Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect
by Eternal Symphonia
Summary: Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect is the final chapter in the story of Kingdom Hearts. Within this tale you will follow along with Sora and his friends as they journey new worlds, help King Mickey, and finally free those who are connected deep within his heart.
1. 1:1:1 The Path to Reconnection

~Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect~

1.1.1

Sora's Story, Book 1, Chapter 1:The Path to Reconnection-Part 1

DISCLAIMER:I do not own anything in this piece of writing. I accept that all of the Disney and Square-Enix characters belong to them, not me. Though, I really do wish that I did own them, but I still don't. You know what that means? DON'T SUE ME.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, fellow fanfiction lovers/writers! I am excited to announce that I have finally been able to muster up enough information from Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts:358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts Coded to create my version of how I think Kingdom Hearts 3, or its equivalent, will be like. Just to warn you, this fanfiction contains many, many spoilers for the whole series, including the games I previously mentioned and the main two. Which means that if you REALLY don't want to know what happens in those three games before you play them, I suggest you click on the back button right now. For those of you who already know what happens in these additions or you really don't care if you find out what big secrets are unveiled in these three stories, then continue on and read my version of Kingdom Hearts 3. And, I promise to those who have read my other fanfics for Birth by Sleep, like Destiny's Recall and BBS Zero, I WILL NOT STOP WRITING THIS ONE UNTIL IT'S FINISHED, EVEN IF IT TAKES ME FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. I hope that I didn't disappoint any of my loyal readers for those two stories. If I did, I apologize and I promise that I will finish this one. For those of you interested in extras like character descriptions, I will add them to my chapters as each character appears. My profile will also contain the descriptions if you ever feel lazy and don't want to run back to "Chapter So and So" just to find out what color this character's eyes are. But, for your interest's sake, I will put them at the end of each chapter. It helps to do that since I might spoil the return of...."certain" characters before you even read the story.

I guess that's all I wanted to say. Sorry that the note is really long.

~Eternal Symphonia~

* * *

_"The worlds have been swallowed by darkness many times, but there seems to always be a Keyblade-wielding boy who has come to save them."_

_"Perhaps, if it were him...the boy who can connect his heart to anyone, then maybe...."_

_"Maybe he will be able to free us from our torment, to open the door and deliver our troubled souls into the Light"_

_"His name...His name is...."_

* * *

I still remember the frost that crystallized within my veins when my eyes met the creamy, crinkled, and practically crushed parchment that was emblazoned with the one symbol that I could never forget. Most, when this seal is mentioned, think of an alignment of three, plain black circles that seem to resemble a head with two round ears. Funny, because that's exactly what it really was meant to look like. Usually symbols of someone _that_ important really made your head twist with awe when they revealed to you their trademark. You would expect it to be something that you could respect, like a crest entwined with golden snakes, or a lion that was calling to the skies with a flag draped over its back. Something that screamed, "I am brave!", or "I am strong!" would be assumed. But no. Call me a weirdo, if you want, but there I was, feeling like my heart was going to start to sound like a war drum soon, just because I had set my gaze upon three little circles. If you were me, though, you would understand just how influential that mark was in my eyes. The fact that it affected me so proved that the King didn't even need some fake, stupid, apparently "inspiring" image just to let his name be known. Just a small clipping of what his appearance was truly like was all that anyone needed to recognize him easily.

Whenever I saw that emblem slathered upon anything, I knew almost instantly that it either belonged to or was property of King Mickey, the ruler of Disney Castle. This man was known to many as a Keyblade Master of the Light who had saved the worlds from eternal darkness more than just once. Yeah, yeah, I know, I had _something_ to do with it. But if it weren't for King Mickey, I wouldn't have made it to meeting Donald and Goofy, or even seeing my friends, Riku and Kairi, again.

Blinding white light streamed into my window like water into the depths of a parched man's dry throat, allowing my thirst to focus on something other than my mind's blundering path to be quelled. The moon's pale shape cast shining glare as I raced after my thoughts, watching them rotate from all of my problems to many other things that seemed to catch my attention. Everything that had happened that day blared like neon signs in my head, confusing me on which way to turn, what to think, and how to escape from the lingering sentiment that had been bothering me ever since my eyes had met those three little circles on the letter that had appeared very mysteriously in the ocean that same day. At that moment, I could recall almost every single word that had been slathered on the paper with cobalt blue ink.

_Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi,_

_It's been a while since we last spoke to each other, hasn't it? I knew that you guys would be wonderin' how we're doing, so I decided to write ya. _

_Where do I start? Welp, I'll begin with how everybody's farin' at Disney Castle here. Donald and Goofy have once again taken up their duties as captain of the Royal Guard and Court Magician, and they're keeping up their work like they always used to. Well, Goofy still dozes off every now and then, but Donald always makes sure that he gets back to work in no time; even if he does have to shoot a bolt of lightning at him, first._

_Queen Minnie and I are okay, and everything in our castle and Disney Town are perfectly fine. Chip and Dale keep telling me about how much they miss the horrible jokes that Sora used to tell whenever him and Donald and Goofy were flying in the Gummy Ship, and they've been bugging me to let you visit for a while. So, that's what I've done. In fact, the reason why I'm bringing you here to us is not for just this, but another that I have found out within the year of your absence._

_It's going to be hard to say this, and, well... you probably won't believe me. But I cannot blame you, since it's my fault that I didn't tell you in the first place. I guess we didn't really have any time for that during your adventures._

_A long, long time ago there were once many of those who had hearts that were filled with so much strength. A lot of people knew these as heroes of Light and Darkness, or in terms you would be able to relate to, Keyblade Wielders_

I stole a quick glance at Riku, who had been my best friend ever since I was four, knowing that he was probably going to do exactly the same. And in fact, he did; his aquamarine irises coruscated with surprise and a tiny bit of curiosity when I looked into them. But before I could even ask what he thought about the recurring mention of these heroes of Light, he had already started to read the rest of the story. I obliged, and followed suit.

_These Keyblade Wielders were renowned far and wide, and there were many, many Masters of the Keyblade at that time. These Masters were entrusted to continue this legacy of heroes, and therefore, they were also entrusted to teach others the art of wielding the Keyblade. In fact, I was one such of those students learning about the secrets of the heart and the Keyblade under Master Yen Sid. But, as I know, there were two other Masters that were in contact with my own. One of these Master's names was Master Xehanort, and the other..._

The rest of the King's words faded into the background under the pressuring of my prickling curiosity. Now I _really _wanted to read the rest of this letter after hearing the sound of, "Xehanort".

...a_nd the other was called Master Eraqus. Master Xehanort was known as a wise old man who owned a bald head, a silver goatee, and deep amber eyes. People both feared and respected this aged person, since he was a wielder of Darkness and also the oldest known Keyblade bearer alive. Many even went as far as to refer to him as the embodiment of sagacity, due to his vast expanse of knowledge. Now, while there was the Keyblade Master of Darkness, there was also the Keyblade Master of Light. This was Eraqus._

_If I recall correctly, Eraqus was a wielder about the age of fifty with dark brown, almost black hair and glowing brown eyes. He was a kindhearted man who was probably the most charitable, compassionate, and considerate person I have ever met, surpassing even you, Sora. Even if you looked like a scruffy piece of starving street dirt, Eraqus would have been the one to hold his hand out to you and help. The Keyblade Master of Light trained alongside Xehanort, and the two were very familiar with each other. Though, they never got along too well. I guess that fits, since they were on opposite sides of the Light versus Darkness spectrum. _

_Master Eraqus was one of the Keyblade Masters training others, and thus he was blessed soon after his decision to teach with two young, lively, obedient apprentices. Their names were Terra and Aqua, Terra being a built, dark haired, cobalt eyed young man, and Aqua a delicate, sweet young woman with striking blue hair and light blue eyes. They trained for many years with Eraqus, and soon they were joined with a boy about your age with spiky blond hair and matching blue eyes named Ventus. These three were best friends, much like you, Kairi, and Riku. Inseparable these three were....not even the distance between the worlds that they traveled could keep their hearts apart. One day, though, Master Xehanort had disappeared and Eraqus grew concerned. He sent out Terra and Aqua to find him, but I assume Ven (Ventus's nickname) must have disobeyed orders to stay behind and followed them out to the worlds beyond their domain, The Land of Departure. I'm not really sure what happened between that and the end of their journey, but they had all failed their missions by the time I came along. Xehanort had sent his heart into Terra's body and Terra himself was lost within, turning into the Xehanort we all know and "love". Technically, Xehanort, the apprentice of Ansem the Wise, is Master Xehanort and Terra's heart within Terra's body and soul. Aqua, the young woman with the blue hair, was nowhere to be found. When I found out what had happened to these three, she had entirely disappeared into thin air. I can only surmise to the best of my ability that she had been thrust into another dimension, or another realm. Maybe even the Realm of Darkness. And Ventus..._

_Sora, before I even tell you what had happened to Ven, I 'm going to make you promise just one thing. Please, and I beg of you, please just trust that I am not lying to you._

_Ven, well, Ven wasn't an entirely whole person. He was only the Light of someone else. Darkness and Light combine to make one person, right? Well, his opposite, his darkness, was known by the name of Vanitas, Master Xehanort's only apprentice. At the end of the three's final battle together, Vanitas revealed to Ven their connection and combined with him to create the original. After that, I assume Aqua had killed him and took Ven back. Ven's heart had traveled elsewhere though to fulfill the darkness he lacked. And, well, that elsewhere is inside of...another person now. Aqua had put Ven's body and soul in a place called the "Room of Awakening" within Castle Oblivion to keep him safe so that he could awaken once again some day and they could be together. And now, those three are waiting to be revived. To be freed from their torment._

_I wanted to tell you all of this immediately. That there are memories deeply hidden within your heart, sleeping. Those memory fragments connect everything to the future._

_Sora, Riku, Kairi..._

_The truth surrounding the Keyblade, passes through numerous connections that are inside your hearts. Sora, it all leads right to you. Everyone is waiting for you...The only one can could possibly heal their sadness is you. It's possible that all of your travels up until now, compared to the next journey, may have been quite easy. Everything that was previously thought to be accidental connected the door. A new departure seems already to be opening._

_Sora, I am asking you to come with me across the worlds to start reconnecting all of those who have been embedded within the connections of your heart. Together, we can revive those people who are still waiting for your Light to save them. You have to put back together those who you are connected to, Sora._

_Anyways, I'm sending a Gummy Ship with Donald and Goofy your way right now, as I write this letter. They'll pick you up exactly at noon the day after you receive this parchment. Make sure to bring most of your belongings, since you'll be with us for an unidentified amount of time. _

_For what you're going to tell your parents...well, I guess I'll just have to explain everything by letter when you get here. Maybe even you can write to them, Sora, so they don't think I kidnapped you, or something like that._

_Anyways, it's about time I finished chatting and got on to focusing my efforts on making sure that the castle and my staff are all in order. Gotta be sure that everyone's doing alright. _

_I'm excited to see you again. I've been missing you, you know?_

_~King Mickey_

* * *

I felt as if his ink encased words were singing a song that consisted of a bunch of burdening issues that I wanted nothing to do with. Pretty sure that the way I felt about this, "Reconnection" ordeal that he mentioned meant absolutely nothing to him, I actually didn't want to go on another adventure to save some random people I didn't even know. True, I _did _long to worry about something more than deadlines on homework and getting home in time for my curfew. But seriously, running off to revive some people that consisted of Xehanort's original and his friends?

"_Well, Sora, think about it this way:" _Roxas, my nobody counterpart delved into my train of thoughts.

"_Maybe that "Terra" guy the King mentioned wasn't actually evil like Xemnas was. Maybe that Master Xehanort dude was the one who made Ansem the Wise's apprentice cruel."_

_Yeah, but that still doesn't make it _my _obligation to rescue a bunch of pansies that couldn't defeat an old geezer. _I answered back to him within the depths of my mind.

"_Where's the Sora that feels bad for everyone and hangs himself for it?"_

I made it my number one objective to not respond to his annoying question. I mean, that part of me still existed, but I had grown up a bit in the past year, too. Within a few weeks' time, I would be turning sixteen.

_"I'm sure he wasn't really trying to bother you. He probably just thought that you wouldn't care about such a thing due to the way you've acted about things like that in the past."_

I ignored Roxas once again and began to ponder the letter that had met my hands that very day. Even before I had read it, I was almost certain that I would have to be thrust away on another journey. The feeling that drizzled off of his writing resonated within me constantly, allowing a foreign fear to eclipse my heart that had only been there once before, when I had thought Donald and Goofy had left me for good back in Radiant Garden when I was fourteen. It may have just been a polite invite to Disney Castle to bring a bunch of dead people back to life, but something was holding me back from believing so. King Mickey's proclamation of possible danger and another perilous struggle froze my heart in its beating tracks. I fought desperately to keep my attention at that part of the letter, but my mind managed to slip past me and utter questions about other ominous things. After reading that whole segment about the three apprentices of Master Eraqus, I had been too taken aback to even start to thinking about what it actually meant. Images of three young teenagers the same age as my friends and I flashed through my head. Scene after scene of many different events involving those known as, "Terra, Aqua, and Ven" flew by, one by one, the last being a slight little trickle of the three, looking like how I had imagined them as King Mickey described them, sitting atop a high rock in a place I had never before seen. This area was a peaceful grove of fleshy green grass that swayed in the gentle pull of wind. Rocky ledges and mountains surrounded by an expanse of cobalt blue clouds lay at the edge of this scene. The three were staring up at a starry sky, enjoying the sight of the flashes of light streaks racing across the horizon. Terra slapped his hand down on Ven's spiked hair and rubbed teasingly, causing Ven to yell with a smile on his face about how Terra should start considering to stop before he became angry. Terra obliged and lifted his hand off, and the three giggled like friends usually do.

_Who are these people anyways? _I thought to myself while pulling my blanket farther up on my body, noticing the cold that had been drifting through my window in a relentless pace.

_That's weird, it's the middle of Summer on Destiny Islands. So...it really shouldn't be all that cold..._

I shrugged the thought off and knelt on my bed at the base of my open window. Before closing it, I lifted my nose to let in the comforting scents of salt and sand, knowing that when I had been on my adventures I would have done anything, even dance in only a pink, frilly pair of girl's panties in front of the whole universe, just to let that smell entice my senses. I weighed both the urge to shut the window and warm up under my fleece blanket, and to keep it open and watch the distant sea lap at the shore. The latter won, but only because I knew that it would be the last night that I could admire the gleam of the moon shining on the waves. Resting my chin on my knuckles, I took in another deep breath of ocean air; it seemed to wrap its soothing fingers around my heart and gave a little squeeze of pleasure every now and then. I knew for certain then that when I was gone tomorrow, flying off in a Gummi Ship, I would remember sitting there and feeling like the most glad person in the worlds.

Truthfully, I couldn't have felt any happier than I did right at that moment, which really seemed to last an entire lifetime.

Suddenly, another frosty breeze blew through my open window. I shook my head and sighed, closing it while hearing the normal squeal of the lock.

I began to turn around and flop back to my pillow, but before I could even shift my knees the other way, a hand that sent chills through my every nerve rested on my shoulder.

Instantly I flipped around to meet whoever it was that had scared the shit out of me, ready to scream at them with an annoyed tone. But when I actually let my eyes rest on the owner of the hand that felt as cold as death, I only met another iris in the utter darkness of my room. Before I could even try to sort out the face of the man the moon shadowed over with gray clouds. We both stared at each other in silence, waiting for the other to make a move. Lightning crackled outside and let in only a flash of light, but it was enough to see the portrait of the man who had wrapped his fingers over my shoulder. And I'll be mature and admit it right now, I probably had just turned the floor of my room into a swimming pool made of pee.

The face that was peering harshly into my person with only one, open, glowing cerulean eye squinted hard in concentration. The other window into his soul that lay on his face was sealed tightly with many scars that I started to pity him for. No malice of any sort seeped out of the pool swathed with sky blue; it was more like looking down a rock wall to see a somber well of endless sadness and regret at the core, or bottom of the drop. I received a feeling that made me glance twice. It really appeared as if he had been wrongly accused of committing a horrible crime and was feeling the awareness of his self-doubt...as if he was thinking to himself quietly, _Was it really my fault? Am I really the one who was wrong about everything?_

I drank in a slow, deep breath, trying to ignore the pity that resonated in the depths of my heart for the guilt enveloped presence in front of me. I don't even know why, but I couldn't help noticing the tightening of my throat when his eye opened again.

Another flash of lightning made him cower back in fear of the bright light like he had lived in a dark, unknowing, lonely corner for years beyond counting. After the brightening of the sky had passed, not only his blue eye was apparent, but the other that had been marked with gruesome scars of battles past. Fear eclipsed my soul when I recognized the color of glowing amber, like a single ember in the pit of a smoldering black fire. Instead of seeing anguish like in the other iris, I recognized forbidding hatred that surpassed anything I had ever seen in my whole entire life. Nothing I have even ever _imagined_ had that much loathing within itself. Though his amber eye reminded me entirely of Xemnas and Xehanort's Heartless, even their swathes of fire had not amounted to this much emotion. Well, especially not Xemnas, since he was a Nobody and couldn't even muster the ability to feel _anything_. The thought of the leader of Organization XIII reminded me of his very last words before his fade into Darkness...

"_Don't you remember any other emotion besides anger and hate?" I asked Xemnas calmly as white and black swirls symbolizing the beginning of his downfall surrounded him._

"_Unfortunately..." He paused to look down at his fading body. "I don't..."_

The multi-eye-colored person who had been staring at me with the expression of apprehensive fear suddenly leaned closer to me. I drew back, my eyes widening in suspicion of his advancement. But even though every bit of logic screamed at me to back off farther and put more distance between us, my heart told me to stay put as he rested his mouth next to my ear. Shivers racked down my spine like the rattling of a glass window against a powerful storm when I heard his shaky breath; he sounded as if he were about to draw in his very last handful of air before the clutches of death caressed him.

"_Free us from our torment."_

* * *

Oxygen rushed into my lungs as I flew up in bed, my blankets all folding over themselves as I practically catapulted into the air that lay on top of me. Alarm and terror clawed into my chest with fiery talons, allowing my brain to not even pause and think of what had caused such a sensation to occur. Once my fear had calmed itself, I realized that the vision of that man had only been a figment of my imagination; nothing more than a dream that had given me the impressionthat it had actually happened.

_Of course it was just a dream, Sora. Pull yourself together..._I chastised myself in the echoing silence of my head. I almost believed myself when I recalled that what I had just said could have come straight from the mouth of my Nobody, Roxas, who, on occasion, usually decided to drop in on me and sing insults into my ears. Though, I was the only one who could hear him since he was a part of me.

"_Geez, can you let me get in another hour or two _before _you start dreaming of freaks with multi-colored eyes?" _My blond counterpart teased with a hint of joy in his tone.

_Geez, can you shut up _before _I make us drink prune juice for breakfast? _I questioned back to him, knowing that he absolutely despised prune juice. In truth, though, I actually loved prune juice.

Don't even _start_ slinging geezer jokes at me.

"Sora! You'd better come down before your waffles get cold!" I heard my mother practically scream from the outside of my wooden door. Before I could even lift my head back up from my bed to stare at the closet, contemplating what I should wear on the journey to Disney Castle, my mom burst into my room and stomped straight over to my bed. She applied her angry, reddening fists on her hips as she rested her soft blue eyes on all of the clothes and piles of trash that were randomly scattered about on the floor. Though I had received the "pick up after yourself" lecture almost every day since I was four, she still insisted that a daily reminder was absolutely necessary. Call me ignorant, but every time I suspected she was going to initiate the chastise, I instantly let my attention wander to something else. This time, though, it was dispersed to the realm of Kairi.

Waves upon waves of loving and soothing feelings caressed my heart as I imagined the cerulean depths of her eyes looking into my own. The enticing picture of her oval face was laid across with words that I translated loosely into, "Sora", "How", "Many", "Times", "Slob", and "Idiot".

"Are you even paying attention!?" My mother's dark brown hair, scented with the comforting sweetness of strawberries, was shoved into my face when she put hers right in front of mine.

"Of course, Mom." I fibbed with a guilt ridden smirk. Since she was my mother and knew every ploy I could have used, she knew that I was lying. Plus, it didn't help that my eyes had been glazed over with the thoughts of Kairi's gorgeous face.

While my mother fidgeted about my room, attempting to pick up every single piece of dust that she could possibly see, I started to feel an oncoming bout of throbbing pain welling up in my heart. And, at that particular moment, I knew for a fact that I was experiencing the realization of how I might not see my mom ever again after this day. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and glanced up at the pink shirt encased woman who raised me from an infant to the teenager I am today. When my mom noticed that I was smiling innocently at her with a gleam of little boy Sora in my eyes, she beamed with delight at her child. While we were stuck in this son and mother moment, I reached my arms out to tell her that I wanted a hug. She agreed with a nod and wrapped her smooth arms softly around my back and reached her fingers upwards to stroke my hair.

"Sora, you're growing up too fast for me," She leaned back from our embrace to caress my cheeks with her hands, stopping to finish her sentence only when she knew that I had her complete attention. I told her that she did by staring straight into her eyes.

"When you were gone on your adventures, I missed you so much. Even when everyone forgot about you, I still, somehow, knew that there was someone very precious missing in my life."

_I guess I'm going to have to tell her about everything that happened yesterday..._I surmised, my chest's pulsating ache rising into constant agony. The whole time I was searching for either Kingdom Hearts, Xehanort, or my friends, I would occasionally picture the face of my mother and feel like I wanted to cry.

"_Mom, I have to tell you something." _

* * *

I stood on the shores of the main island, the one that made up the biggest portion of my home, my luggage feeling heavier than ever within my grasp. With the recognition of the sudden weight that had tugged on my arms, I glanced down at the meager amount of belongings I had brought.

A knapsack the color of the deepest shade of shadows was being suspended by a string the color of clouds. The tie had been tightened around my left wrist a couple of times, the end section of the material clutched by my fist. Many yellow straps were criss-crossed over the top of the black leather. A few buckles held down the pockets that usually flapped open if I had been too lazy to close them. It was like any other knapsack, but the one thing that distinguished it from the others was probably the few torn pieces of leather that had been ripped off from use. I didn't have much tucked away in it, since I didn't feel the need to bring anything more than a blanket, two other outfits besides the one I was wearing, a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, the cologne I had received from Riku for Christmas (he told me he gave it to me because I smelled like the ass of a five-hundred year old cave man), a notebook to record my travels with so that I could show Kairi and Riku when I got back, a few pencils, and a couple bags of candy that Riku insisted I take just so I could imagine him stealing them from me like he always did when I was five. At that moment, standing in the glare of the rising sun, I felt as if I were a lost traveler, just waiting with a crummy sack of my belongings for some unknown ship to come and take me away from my home.

"Sora! Wait up!" a voice called from the distance.

I turned around to see what had summoned my attention. My friend was racing up to me with a determined look on his face. His flowing, long, silver, spiky hair trailed behind him while he slowed to a jog. I blinked for longer than a fleeting moment, and when I opened my eyes once again, they met two other irises staring down into mine. The aquamarine depths belonged to Riku.

"What are you doing here? It's not your job to bring these people back, you know? Only I can-"

"Do you think I even care? I'm coming with you, no matter what. I'm never leaving you again." Riku shot back with a mischievous shine in his eyes. I looked up at him to see a wide smirk etched across his face, and I knew instantly that he really meant it.

"Thanks, but how are you going to sneak past Donald and Goofy on the ship?" I asked.

"Sora?" He raised his eyebrow in question.

"Yeah?"

"I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to sneak past those two. Remember? You even said yourself that they aren't the brightest crayons in the box" He reminded me in a matter-of-fact tone.

I stood there with my rounded cheeks reddening in embarrassment at my stupidity. Riku was right. He could easily slipped past those two with effort in an amount less than that of flicking his pinky finger. But still, it felt wrong to bring him along without letting Kairi come along for the ride. Speaking of which, she was racing up the shoreline of Destiny Islands, her purple shoes showering sand in a wave behind her as she desperately ran towards us. Her pale, small hands were flung to her knees when she finally caught up to us, trying to catch her breath by bending over. I leaned over and did the same so that I could be at the same level as her.

"I thought...I thought you had left already when I went over to your house and asked your mom where you were."

"Come on, Kairi. Do you really think Sora here would have left without saying something really cheesy to us, first?" Riku interrupted the sweet moment between Kairi and I with a harsh slap on my back.

The angelic girl that I had had a crush on ever since the moment I had met her, elevated her oval, shapely face to crack a grin at both of us. Though she looked pretty glad that she hadn't missed my departure, I could tell that she had been crying due to the glimmer of the early morning sun reflecting off of the wet streaks on her cheeks. When she became aware of the fact that I had noticed the physical embodiment of her pain, she instantly widened her eyes and tried to rub the tears away.

"I'm sorry, but I just didn't want you to leave before I could say goodbye."

"Did you really think that I would?"

She only giggled with a shake of her head.

Suddenly, there was a slight rumbling booming in the distance beyond the play island. It kind of sounded like the chirping of a cricket mixed with synthesizer melodies. I know, that's not really all that great of a description. But, you know, it was kind of hard to describe the noise of a Gummy Ship and have you easily able to imagine it. Throughout my story, I'll probably start sucking at describing things that have happened in my life. Even ask Roxas or Riku: they'll gladly tell you all about the grades I received in all of the Language Arts classes during high school and the inadequate stories I've written about Kairi and I. But, don't actually. I'm just joking.

Please, just...don't even go there, whoever is reading this. The only reason why Riku _ever _found out about how I enjoy writing is because Kairi dared him to search my room one day and find out if I had a diary. He did, in fact, find my journal and notebook, and he couldn't resist holding it over my head whenever he wanted something. Even if I didn't give him exactly what he wanted, he never told anyone anyways. He was too nice for anything like that.

"There's your ride," Riku pointed over to the crimson and onyx, weird-looking ship that was speeding towards us. It was the Gaia, a vessel that Donald and Goofy showed to me once when we were on our adventures together. During that time, it was still enduring the tests of production in the Gummi Hanger at Disney Castle. I admired its sleek design, which resembled something similar to that of medieval building. The base of its body was a simple rectangle topped with a rounded triangle. Two wings that were smothered with decks made of wood stuck out of the sides, a white railing surrounding the edges of the perimeter. These wings were shaped kind of like one half of a heart, the part connected to the ship curving inwards before reaching out at an angle. The front of the pointed tip of the ship held a single window embedded within the cockpit, showcasing a pair of animals that were obviously a dog and a duck. It was pretty strange to see a funny pair of people like Donald and Goofy flying around in this dark spaceship. In the back of this monstrous ship, which was much bigger than any Gummi Ship I had ever laid my eyes on, there were a duo of bat's wings spreading out behind to accentuate the main ones on the sides.

A flush of air radiated out of the Gaia as it landed, a cold swoop ending it as the bridge popped out of the bottom to let the passengers outside. In order not to crush us, they had stationed the ship in the ocean, causing a spray of water to sprinkle out to the sides. The droplets shined in a rosy hue while they fell against the peachy red background of the sunrise. Donald peeked out of cockpit, upside down, his yellow bill being pretty much the only thing that I could see.

"Get moving! Sora's waiting for us, you big palooka!" Donald's scream echoed across the water as Goofy was pushed out of the ship. A splash in the water resulted from this, leading the dog to yelp from the apparently freezing temperature. Donald was not far behind, falling in the ocean as well.

A few moments passed before the duck and the dog both swam like no tomorrow towards us, their gasps of air filling the silence. Soon they were both standing in front of us.

"Hey, how have you been!?" I asked the pair with glee, my arms spread out to indicate that I wanted a hug. Both of them obliged and hugged me in turn, Goofy pinching my cheeks and Donald whacking me with his fist after scolding me for not writing.

"Well, I didn't really know exactly how to....send a letter. It's not like there's any kind of message delivery service that I could use."

"He has a point there, Donald." Goofy backed up my argument.

The pessimistic duck glanced a fleeting glare at his canine friend before adding an interesting tidbit to the conversation,"Well, that's all going to change soon. King Mickey and my Uncle have been working on such a thing for the past month. You know, after the whole data Sora business he mentioned? From what they've told me it's going pretty smoothly."

"Hey, that means that you could actually send us letters when you're away, Sora." Kairi exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm not exactly sure how close they are to finishing it, though," Donald replied to the auburn haired girl. When she processed what that meant, Kairi seemed to appear kind of downcast.

"Don't worry," I put my hand on her shoulder before continuing. "I'll come and visit every now and then."

"You promise?"

I grabbed her lucky charm out of my pocket and clutched it tightly, its five points etched across the center of my heart and nodded, hoping she would see it as something meaningful. Well, of course she would. Without this lucky charm, I'd probably be crawling around as a Heartless right now.

"I'm going to miss you." She hugged me gently, her arms wrapped around my back like the bow of a present. Crimson danced around my cheeks as I smiled and returned her embrace.

"I'll miss you, too." I said over the caterwauls of laughter and chuckling from Donald, Goofy, and Riku.

* * *

After saying my farewell to Kairi and finishing my discussion with Riku about how he could sneak onto the ship undetected, I made my way over to the Gaia and boarded the medieval looking ship. The clanging of metal rang into my ears, following my steps as I paced upwards into the structure of thick black material. Donald and Goofy waved to announce our departure.

"See you soon!" my holler chimed across the vast expanse between us. Riku only winked while Kairi practically had a heart attack, jumping up and down in both excitement and anguish. Below me was the very bottom of the ten-foot door of the Gaia, which was now rising upwards as the ship sprung into life like a choir of crickets. The whole time they were able to see me I waved back and forth, to and fro, until the mechanical noises and the moving of the panel stopped entirely.

Onyx was pretty much the only color that you could see in the whole entire cockpit within the Gaia. The room was a rectangle with rounded corners, opposite the end where the controls of the machine lay. To my right on the curved wall were three silky black doors, each about two feet away from each other. Above every one of them were signs that had words cast in a ghostly white hue. The two on the sides had the word, "Deck", written in cursive-ish, gothic-ish, and kind of...spiky font? I guess that's not really a good explanation. Like I said before, as you read my story, the final tale of Kingdom Hearts, you'll notice that I'm not really all that great at describing things.

A trio of milk white chairs sat in front of the controls on the right side of the room, each having their back emblazoned with a different symbol. On the right seat was a crimson image of a shield. Off to the left was a staff wrapped in cobalt blue. Last, but not least, was the three pointed crown flashing gold on the center chair.

"Wow, I like...I like what you've done with this place." I stuttered as the dog and the duck took their places in their respective chairs.

"Yeah," Donald mumbled before allowing his voice to increase in volume. "We had it specially designed when it was still being built in the hanger."

Without answering back, I took in the rest of the cockpit's appearance.

Overall, the whole room was about fifteen feet in length and eight in width. On the side I was facing at this moment, two ebony reclining chairs were spaced about three feet away from each other in order to leave space for the humble table in the middle. A few magazines were scattered about on the glass surface. Books of all sizes were lined up on a shelf overhanging the two resting places. Hovering off to the side was an eight foot tall refrigerator, also matching the common theme of charcoal.

Donald and Goofy stared at me with smirks on their faces, noticing that I instantly started marching over to the fridge when I had finally noticed its presence. Not that I was going actually eat anything. I really just wanted to make sure that it was stocked up with stuff that _I _liked. And, I'm glad to say, it was.

Rows upon rows of soda lined up like soldiers on the battlefield, all displaying an array of colors, flavors, labels, ingredients, sugar content (that I really didn't care about), and deliciousness. Every single flavor of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Dr. Pepper, Sunkist, and A&W seemed to exist on those shelves. Even my favorite, Cherry Pepsi, was there. As I glanced about the shelves of the freezing space, though, I realized that there was more than just an endless amount of caffeine and fat. Donuts, Oreos, bags of gummy worms, boxes of Pizza Rolls, packages of hot dogs, pudding cups, and my absolute favorite....Bomb Pops.

"How did you guys know that I love-"

"Trust us, Sora. All we knew was that you loved _food _in general." Donald and Goofy answered in unison.

Old happiness that hadn't been sparked since the end of my second adventure flared up within my heart at that moment. All of the thrills of traveling with my two friends and meeting new people, seeing foreign lands, and honing the power of the Keyblade flashed throughout my head. And with Riku coming along this time, by my side, what could possibly go wrong?

Now, as I tell you my story, I can assure you that I am not nearly as stupid now as I was back then, when everything seemed to be nothing more than a dream from which I could wake up from whenever I felt like it. Truthfully, I am actually kind of embarrassed. But before we continue the tale, let me tell you just one thing:

I was _not _prepared for what lay ahead.


	2. 1:1:2 Within the Midst of Battle

Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect-1.1.2-Sora's Story, Book 1, Chapter 2-Within the Midst of Battle-

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy characters. All belong to the Walt Disney company or Tetsuya Nomura/Square Enix.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Today I have a few announcements to tell you all about, but instead of just having myself say them, like a lot of other writers, I will have Sora tell you them himself. So, um.....Sora?

Sora: "Yeah? Oh, that's right. You wanted me to say the announcements for today. Well, let's see here....(pauses to glance at the list) First up is the thanks for the reviewers, NinjaSheik and kirabook. The author says that she's really glad that you guys were kind enough to write your comments and thoughts about my story."

Author: "Sora, tell them that you're glad too. I mean, it _is _your story. I'm just the one writing it down."

Sora: "Fine. (sigh). I'm really glad as well. You're awesome...(mumble, mumble)."

Author: "Well, while Sora is being a sour, ungrateful, annoying little boy, I'll finish the rest of the news, since _he _decided that he wouldn't."

Sora: "I heard you!"

Author: "Ahhhh....ha, ha, ha. We'll just ignore that...Anyways, yes, thank you so much to my reviewers. It was very thoughtful of you to leave some praise and I hope to see some more reviews as this story continues. Also, like I said before, I will leave character descriptions for the end of the chapters, so as not to spoil who appears in the beginning. Think of it as a kind of "Jiminy's Journal" for you guys to check up on things, if you have the time. I think that's all of the announcements for today. There weren't too many, _right Sora?_"

Sora: (through a mouthful of Pizza Rolls, crumbs littering his face) "What?"

Author:(chuckle) "Well, that's all for today. I will insert my official farewell here:

The writer of Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect,

~Eternal Symphonia~

A compassionate warmth drizzled down from the sky above as I stood upon a proud stretch of earth. Sand the color of oatmeal supported my feet and also added texture to the platform while the birdsong and gusts of strong wind added life to the air. Mountains that hailed at altitudinous heights also dotted the horizon, patches of jade bushes atop them. All of these solemn soldiers were set against a frontal assault of blood, the crimson stretching across the sky as the Sun rose on this beautiful world. Other colors were also apparent in this watercolor painting of nature, including golden yellow, salmon pink, and an orange the same hue as the sweet flesh of a mango. Clouds stained by the ink of the Sun's reach curled about the pillars of rock as well, reminding me of strawberry whipped cream. Trickling over the edge of these mountains were crystal blue streams of water, fed by pools of glass on the flat tips of the rocky fingers. Due to these waterfalls, there was a large lake on the surface of the world. Since I was on the edge of the platform, I was able to peer over and take in the glistening crests of the waves upon the aquamarine glass as they frothed about.

I took a few steps backwards in awe of the radiant area and stopped only when I was in the middle of the sandy circle of land. But my admiration only reared harder than before when I realized that a fortress made of gold had been standing in front of me this whole time. The castle consisted of five main parts, which were only held up by the cream colored segments connecting them together. These little parts seemed to act as bridges between the glass decorated rectangles. Golden spires protruded atop these buildings and pointed upwards into the sky. A large, open, ornate stained glass door that was open to all was in front of me, allowing a glimpse of what the interior held within. Chains of great size (each link was about my height multiplied) were like the arms of the citadel, supporting its heavy weight by attaching themselves to two nearby mountains.

_Wow, this place is beautiful..._ I sighed internally with pleasure at my peaceful surroundings. As I stared across the horizon once again, I began to feel nostalgia for this place, as if it was a home of mine from long ago. This strange sensation left me wanting to know more about exactly why I felt that way. I pondered and thought upon it for a long time, soon becoming lost within my own heart.

I'm not exactly sure to this date of what had caused me to lose my own self after that, but I surely did. All my thoughts were transformed into these weird threads of sadness and longing, as if whoever I was turning into had quite a depressing existence. From what I could gather, he must've been one _crazy_, weird, and pitiful teenager.

_Maybe this place could serve as a good new home for me. I mean, look at it...pretty landscape, warm __climate, crystal clear water... Surely it'll be better than the last one I had with __him__. _I finished the boy's thought with a scowl on my face. Soon all of the memories of this unknown sentiment started to come back to me, leading my heart to pulse only with fear and regret.

_God, I __hated__ that evil man. I was never a good enough student for him. He'd always tell me about how stupid and weak I was, and never praised anything I did. He even went as far as to telling me that I was a pretty unintelligent choice for an apprentice, and that he regretted ever setting his eyes on my sad existence. All I ever wanted was to be a good student and learn from him and receive recognition for my hard work, but all I got back was a sneer and a sigh every time I even tried._

All of the sudden, I started to feel tears run down my cheeks like a stack of dominoes, each one promising the fall of another. The "Sora" part of me didn't want to be in this body or heart anymore, but for some reason I understood that it must have been important for me to hear what the teen had to say. There was also another question that had been tugging on my attention for a while now, as well, so after thinking about it I decided to stay and listen.

_I hear there are two other apprentices here that are training as well. Maybe they'll be really nice. I sure hope so...I wonder what their names are..._

_"You were never supposed to exist." _

Instantly, I flipped around to meet a misty figure with no clear attributes except for angry, dark chocolate brown eyes, my previously happy thoughts turning into ones that could be described with one term.

_Shit..._

Judging from the tone of his voice, I was able to figure that he was probably around the age of fifty.

_"Come here, young one...and I will end your wrongful existence!"_

_What is he even talking about? I'm not..._

The rest of this scene passed by my sight in fuzzy little pictures, almost like a slide show that left my heart pounding like the feet of an elephant. First up was the depiction of the man drawing a weapon from out of nowhere. The second consisted of him disappearing without a trace.

_That's a relief... _I found myself ridding my chest of the suspense that had been bottled up within, using a sigh as the transporter for such. But, it was not too long before I had to hold my breath in anxiety and alarm once again.

The older man had gripped the back of my shirt and dangled me in front of his face, almost as if he was a starving tiger playing with his long-awaited prey, enjoying the anticipation of something to rip to shreds before doing exactly so. Still I couldn't make out what he looked like, even though I was right in front of him; something was obscuring my vision and impairing it. It kind of left me frustrated. My curiosity was squirming, just like a bucketful of writhing worms, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. But that was soon forgotten when the guy had tossed me to the ground. To make sure that I couldn't wriggle away, he placed his right foot on my chest and left on one of my arms. With my free hand, I tried to push his shoe away; but to no avail, I failed miserably and sat there in fear as he brushed the tip of his blade upon my heart. At that moment, I realized that it was a Keyblade.

_"Farewell."_

Agonizing pain scoured across my whole body as crimson flashed above. The redness seemed to glint in the sunlight while everything slowed to a complete stop, freezing time and allowing me to enjoy the pain even longer. My veins thrummed and pumped to my heartbeat as more blood rushed out of my wound. The aged man grinned mischievously. A taste similar to that of the smell of wet rust tingled upon my tongue. My ears were filled with heinous laughter and moaning wind. Still, the tenacious ache grew like the black plague, spreading across my body until nothing could escape the fiery path it had laid down in its wake. I could feel nothing at all once I had been consumed entirely.

Darkness was splotched across my vision as I blacked out.

-----------

"Sora? Are you...are you okay?"

Humming fluttered into my ears, the foreign, yet familiar sounds reminding me of the flutter of a butterfly's wings, catapulting in volume and descending within a short amount of time. Among the chatter of the Gaia's machinery there was a slight breathing noise, as if there was another person hiding within the darkness. My room was completely under the fold of shadows, so I was pretty much scared beyond the point of finding crap in my underwear.

"Who the hell are you!?" I questioned the entity bluntly while raising the upper half of my body. The Keyblade that had been so loyal to me for three years also was apparent, showing that I was going into the defensive. I felt about ready to smash the head in of whoever thought it was funny to sneak up on me when I realized that I should take precaution just in case it had been Donald or Goofy. At that moment, I summoned a bright light at the tip of the Kingdom Key just to make sure.

Within the faint glimmer of the white glow, I was able to make out a strong face surrounded by a veil of shining silver. From what I could gather, this person was a young man; his strong features were too masculine to belong to a female. Though, since it was quite dark, some parts of his face were totally eclipsed within shadow. The two irises of aquamarine coruscated with a certain calmness that could only belong to one person.

My voice trembled as I recited his name in a confused manner, "Riku?"

"Yeah," he paused to nod. "It's just me. Actually, I kinda wished you would've figured that out _earlier_."

Though I felt a little bit annoyed, I couldn't help but notice a grin stretch across my face. Riku had climbed on board of the ship, undetected, about two days ago, but I had no clue during that forty-eight hour period of time where in the universe he had been. At that moment, I could recall all of the terrible conclusions I had come to while he was absent: Riku was out in space somewhere getting devoured by a bunch of Heartless, Riku was still on Destiny Islands and I would never see him again, Riku got incinerated by the flames of the Gaia's engine and had burnt to death, or that Riku had simply died. To tell you the complete truth, I really felt the same way then as I did when we were on the World That Never Was, finally finding him after two long years of not hearing any insulting taunts, or teasing, or anything that he usually said to me.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Riku. For a while there, I thought you had died." I admitted, my head lowering to allow my eyes to rest upon the crimson blankets I sat on. A minuscule trickle of energy flowed throughout my body, letting me look onto his face again without feeling as dumb as I had before.

Riku rested his right hand on my bare shoulder. The chill seeping from his fingers made me shiver a bit, but I did not recoil; he was staring straight into my eyes, telling me something unsaid that I could not quite place my finger on.

He cleared his throat, and then spoke, "Don't worry. I would have never forgiven myself if I hadn't come along to help you on your journey. But, only because I know that you won't be able to do it without _my _skills."

Riku's boastfulness was actually quite relieving to hear after not seeing him for a while. Instead of scowling, like I usually did, I playfully slugged him in the arm.

"What was that for?" the silver haired boy gripped the inflicted spot and frowned as he whispered the question, only turning it into a smile when he realized I had put on a goofy smirk. He knew for certain that when a strange, but funny smile was on my face, it meant, "I know I did something wrong, but don't get mad at me.". Riku did not say any words this time, but only put the tip of his finger on my nose and shoved harshly. I didn't reply back to him, either.

My best friend explained to me his prolonged absence, telling me that he had got on board safely. But he almost missed the opportunity to climb on because Kairi had been chastising him for wanting to come along. He told me he felt horrible about this, but he pushed Kairi to the ground and ran away from her, leaping onto the Gaia just as it roared into life.

"What did Kairi do after that?" I asked with slight fear in my voice.

"She only raised her fist and screamed, 'I'm going to laugh when you come home to find everything in your room destroyed!'."

"Did she really think that that was going to stop you?"

"I guess..."

There was silence within the walls. Riku was rubbing the back of his spikes when I finally realized what he was hinting at when he fell quiet.

"Don't worry," I assured. "I'll make sure to explain to Kairi everything when we visit her again."

The young man nodded in appreciation, adding a slight smile at the end. I ventured farther out to request the explanation of where exactly he had hid on the ship. Riku claimed that the wooden decks on top of the ship proved efficient enough. Then, he admitted how afraid he had been of Donald or Goofy going out there and discovering him. So, when one of them finally did (the latter of the two, in fact), he had to find another hiding spot. Last night he, at last, found where my room was after sneaking about the ship for a whole day.

"You mean, you've been watching me sleep the _entire_ night!?" I questioned in disgust.

"Well, would you rather I had hid in Donald's room and gotten hit by a lightning bolt?" he asked back.

"No..."

Riku shook his head and sighed before getting off of the topic, "By the way, what exactly were you dreaming about? It sounded like you were being murdered."

I tried my best not to let him know just how correct he was by asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well..." he stopped to gather his thoughts. "You kept yelling at someone to not harm you. Then, you started to scream as if you had been mauled."

My head descended in a quick manner, following the guilt I felt coursing through my heart like a seagull to an abandoned fast food bag. I couldn't help but realize that I wasn't sure whether or not to tell him what exactly had happened.

_Should I just tell him the basics, or describe it in detail? _

Without apprehending the causes and effects of the situation I stood in, I expressed what story had unfurled within my head that night. The first thing I told him was how beautiful the area in the dream was, and then I went on to clarify the transition I went through with my thoughts turning into the other boy's.

Riku had placed his forefinger and thumb on his chin, glaring downwards in concentration and contemplation. Soon, he mumbled only a few words that I made out to be, "That's really weird."

"Yeah, I know. And the strangest part was that he only talked about these crazy things, like how good a place it was to live, and about the other apprentices that lived there and how he hoped that they would like him. But, the most intriguing part was when he mentioned his past teacher and how cruel he was."

"Did he say that teacher's name?"

"No." I replied.

"Well, did the kid talk to you _directly_, or did he just say all that stuff like he didn't know you were there?" Riku questioned me for about the twentieth time that day. I wasn't sure how to answer for about the twentieth time that day, either. Probably because the teenager had sounded like he was directly talking to me at times, and then discussed his thoughts at a moment's notice. I told Riku that, but he still didn't comprehend my confusion. When he asked the question again, I expressed the same exact reply. All he did was shake his head in frustration.

"Anyways," Riku changed the subject once again. "Should we tell Donald and Goofy that I'm here? Or should we leave it-"

I interrupted with scorn, "I dunno. Figure it out." Then and there, I rose from my bed and planted my bare feet into the depths of my yellow and onyx shoes. You know, the ones that Yen Sid gave to me along with my new outfit on my second journey? They slipped on easily, encasing my feet in cold material due to the long hours that I had been absent. After making sure that they fit perfectly, I traipsed over to the open closet on the other end of my rectangular room. The wardrobe contained the few clothes I had brought and also the outfit that matched the shoes I was wearing. While I pulled the ensemble of belts, straps, zippers, pockets, honey, charcoal, cobalt, and cherry off of the hanger in a sluggish way, Riku scoffed at me, "And he thinks that _I'm _the one who acts like a five year old?"

I did my best to try to ignore what he had said, but I couldn't help but notice the flaming anger that was rising within my chest, consuming my entire being. I hated it when people told me that I acted like a little kid. And though I knew it was wrong on my part to even consider saying what I felt like, I did anyway.

"And he thinks that _I'm _the dumb one? At least I don't fall for the Darkness' tricks so easily." After saying that, I could tell how guilty Riku felt when I had brought up that touchy subject. I was being so...harsh...so horrible to him. But I was so mad at him for being impatient that I blew off my top without thinking about it. Deep inside, my heart knew that Riku was deceived and it wasn't his fault that he had turned to Darkness. My sapphire eyes avoided his teal ones as I passed by and headed towards the door. Though we did not gaze at each other, I could tell how depressed he had become. As I drifted past him and out of my room, I noticed the contrition I sensed from deep within myself when his face was hung low. Sadness seemed to ooze out of his entire being, and, like Roxas had told me about two days ago, I felt disgusted with my behavior and wanted to hang myself for it.

_"That was a really bad move, Sora." _Roxas's familiar voice trembled against the edges of my mind. The corridor of the Gaia that led from the cockpit to the bathroom and bedrooms flashed by, paintings of unknown places coming and going against a background of black. Without even thinking about it, my hand gripped the handle of the door standing between the hall and where Donald and Goofy were commandeering the ship. A strange scent floated through the open crack; I let my distant stare hit the floor where a sliver of light clawed the metal as I recognized blueberries and maple syrup.

"What are you guys making?" I questioned when I had stumbled upon a scene of a duck and a dog rushing about, plates and bottles in hand. Clanking sounded off of the sky blue porcelain, food covered, round plates as they paused to see whoever had come in. To announce that it had been me, I gave a small wave to them and grinned awkwardly. They didn't say anything in reply, but continued their hustle and bustle about the ship, flying in and out of the kitchen and the cockpit like bees in a hive. I made sure that no one was coming through the satin black door of the kitchen before walking in.

The kitchen was pretty huge compared to the rest of the ship's rooms; it was about fifteen feet across and fifteen feet the other way. Wooden counters that shone in a golden brown shade were apparent at every corner of the large square room, except for the wall that the door was on. If I recall correctly, there was about ten counters for each tall obstruction. A dusty obsidian color smothered the walls, with sunny yellow stars and moons strewn about the darkness. Another black refrigerator similar to the one out in the cockpit sat next to a pair of machines; I assumed that they were probably the two dishwashers Donald had been telling me about. He had said something about how he couldn't believe that they had put _two _of them in when we only needed one. A huge red stove with a hood and six burners in all was directly across from the door. A set of windows also sat above the counters on my right side, letting in faint glow from the stars outside the ship. Two chandeliers of great size hung above this whole scene, their golden boughs stretching from right above the space in front of the stove, and above the dark cherry wood table in the center of the room. Chairs covered with cream velvet were dispersed around the long table, one on each end and five on each side, standing on the matching tile of the floor.

"Wow," I finished my inspection of the room. "This kitchen is really nice."

"And standing here with two heaping plates of hot food while waiting for your butt to move isn't." Donald quacked from behind, startling me so much that I flipped around in fear. His eyebrow was raised, showing the impatience he felt with me. I still stood there for a minute to get over my shock of being frightened, leading the duck to become even more angry.

"Can you move, _please_?" he inquired with fury.

"Yeah, sorry Donald. I'm kinda out of it today." I explained, apology threaded within my tone. Rubbing my eyes with my right fist, I headed over to the table and sat. While my friend set the plates upon the table with swiftness, I stayed there and watched, twiddling my thumbs together as I rested my chin on my hands.

"So," Donald interrupted the silence's hold upon the kitchen. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah,"

"Did you have any dreams?" the duck asked, his back to me as he fiddled with something on the stove. I wasn't sure if I should have answered that with the truth, but I didn't in fear of another situation like mine and Riku's happening.

_That's right...Where is he, anyway?_

It was as if Riku had heard my question, for he was suddenly in a corner of the room. I shook a little bit when I realized that he had been standing there for about two minutes, and I hadn't even known it. Our eyes met, his irises giving off a nonchalant exterior air about him. A Bomb Pop from the fridge out in the cockpit was within his hand, dripping from being licked so much. All of the sudden, two sausages, two strawberries, and two waffles with blue dots in them were set in front of me. Golden brown syrup drizzled off of the waffles, giving off an aroma that reminded me of my home. A fork and knife were set on the table next to the plate, while a cup of orange juice was slammed down in front of it by a feathery, white hand.

"Goofy!" Donald roared in his guttural, hard to understand voice. The aforementioned dog peeked his muzzle around the edge of the door to see if the coast was clear. Since it obviously was, he smiled and walked inside the room.

"Gawrsh, Donald. Did ya have to yell at me like that?" Goofy chastised as he settled down in the chair next to me. A plate appeared in front of him in the same exact way as mine did.

Donald replied, "Of course, you big palooka. How else would you have known that it was breakfast time?"

"I don't know..."

Pools of glassy syrup glared back up at me as I stared condescendingly at my meal. All I saw in my reflection was a shattered, confused, and guilt-ridden boy who had selfishly dissed on his own friend just because he had been not understood. Two cobalt blue eyes stricken with forlorn were set on his round face, hidden underneath droopy eyebrows that practically screamed how much disgust he felt with himself.

_What have I done? Riku is my best friend and I just acted like an asshole towards him..._

"Are you feeling alright, Sora? You haven't devoured your food like an animal yet." Donald tried to brighten up my facial expression, but it just made me feel worse; my eyes were now shooting fireballs consisting of hatred of myself now. I was pretty surprised that the table hadn't blown up with all the anger that I had.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream last night." I lied, my face lightening into normal Sora face. Donald and Goofy fell for this trick of mine and returned to their squabbling and eating.

_"Sora, not to butt in, but that dream you had last night-shouldn't you tell King Mickey about it? I mean, it mentioned stuff about apprentices and teachers, right? Maybe he could tell you what it had meant. His letter talked about those three apprentice's. Maybe-"_

_Roxas, I'm really not in the mood for a discussion right now._

_"Y-e-.....But-you..."_

I sighed internally and replied back to his jumbled message, _And if you're going to mumble and be mad about it, then can you at least tell me what you're trying to say in legible words?_

_"I-c-c-c-c..." _the blond faded out again, pronouncing a short "c" sound about four times. I was actually starting to become worried. Only when our connection was cut off was when he was not able to speak to me anymore. Plus, I began hearing these weird...fuzzy noises...kind of like when your TV is turned off and it makes that electronic...well, whatever that noise is. An ache began to throb within my head, starting out like a typical head pain, and then catapulting into something much stronger.

"Grrr..."I slurred in pain, almost unable to bear it any longer. The teeth inside my mouth pulsed with little pinpricks, resulting from how hard I had been gritting them.

"Let...go of me..." my mouth pronounced without being given an order to do so. The same thing was repeated again and again, over and over, inside of my mind.

_Let go...let go...let go..._

Though I fought and begged whatever it was that had been causing my skull to writhe in such agony, it did not go away. Soon I fell from my chair and knelt on the floor, encasing my head with my arms and moaning like a seaside cave. Time flew by slowly, not allowing me one second of peace.

"Sora!" I heard someone say. But due to the fact that I couldn't understand words anymore over the noise of my yelps, I wasn't sure who exactly it had been. Nothing was clear, and nothing was completely out of focus, either. Up became down, right became left, and vice versa. Still, the fuzzy noise continued to echo throughout the contents of my brain, picking and feeling inside even the central depths. As it had happened within my dream, my surroundings had changed. Once again I was in that strange, but gorgeous world with the golden castle and chains. I glanced up to find not the interior of the Gaia meeting my eyes, but another illegible figure without a face. When he bent over to look into my eyes, I drew back in fear. My rear hit the sand and my hands held my body from completely lying down.

_"Danger...Heartless...Coming to attack." _the mysterious figure warned me of the approach of the embodiments of shadow. And, at that moment in time, a vision came to me.

-----------------

Deep within the abyss of empty space, there was a ship of considerable size heading towards another that I recognized as the Gaia. Shadow Heartless and Soldiers crawled on top of the gray metal, writhing and hissing in anticipation. A few Neoshadows were in sight, as well as some Large Bodies; mostly the common types that you'd typically see. On top of the nose where the cockpit lay, there was a large structure that was glowing with some blue energy, but I had never seen something like that before. I focused on the diamond of black metal and concentrated.

I came to the conclusion that it was some type of weapon they were trying to charge up for an attack. I don't know exactly how I figured it out...I guess that it just kind of...came to me. That, and they had been trying to aim it at our ship for quite a while now. So, I assumed that it must have been a danger of some sort. Small single body ships shot out of the bottom of the Heartless vessel, pausing before shooting off towards their target. I estimated that there must have been about fifty of them. Right after the descent of the Heartless had happened, missiles that were completely charcoal in color were removed from the bottom's interior, all getting ready to be fired at us. Basically, the Heartless ship that was attacking us was pretty much a giant machine of dark, gruesome death.

_What are we going to do? There are only four of us on the Gaia. We won't be able to defend ourselves from that many Heartless!_

_----------------_

My eyelids glided upwards to peel away the darkness, eventually framing the face of Riku, Donald, and Goofy, the three leaning over me with concern growing in their facial expressions. But, I was too scared to even comprehend telling them the story of what had happened. Instead, I practically screamed at the trio of friends, "Donald, Goofy, get to the controls of the ship!"

"What? But...why? We're perfectly fine! What are you so worried about?" Donald raised his eyebrow in puzzlement.

Suddenly, the Gaia shook violently. I closed my eyes for a second to brace the impact before replying, "_Now_."

Thankfully, the two obliged due to the awkward jerking of the ship and paced out to the cockpit through the open door. When the only thing I could see of them was the tip of Donald's tail feathers, I turned to Riku, who was the only one in the room with me. Power surged through my muscles when I sprung off of the ground. My right hand was now covered in a veil of light, which only disappeared when the Keyblade's cold metal was felt within my fingers. Without looking at Riku, I ran past and spoke to him calmly, "I think you'd better get yours out, too."

When I arrived next to Donald and Goofy in their respective seats, they were tapping on various buttons, trying to use the vessel's detection systems to their utmost ability. After they were done putting in the command to the ship, a crimson alert message appeared above us.

_"DANGER! LARGE ENEMY SHIP APPROACHING. TYPE: HEARTLESS VESSEL. POWER LEVEL:HIGH. CHANCE OF YOUR SURVIVAL IN BATTLE:LITTLE"_

As I focused on the flashing words of the warning, Donald hissed out the same scream he had when we thought Goofy had died in Radiant Garden, about a year ago. It was the only thing I could remember hearing at that instant, and the rest was...well, silent. Riku, Goofy, and I stood there dumbfounded, drooling at the screen in despair as the alarm sounded on the ship.

"Goofy and I will combat the enemy vessel while you two stay on board and fight. If we hold our ground, we can make it."

The duo of cartoony proportions took up their positions at the controls and began pushing thousands of panels, leaving Riku and I to go off on our own. My silver haired friend turned to me and nodded ever so slightly, indicating that he was ready for a Heartless encounter. Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand, the onyx and crimson bat's wing contrasting to the light blue angel's wing at the tip. The Gaia trembled like an earthquake as we raced from room to room, searching for the presence of Heartless, making me come to the conclusion that we had been hit by one of the countless bombs that I had sensed within my vision.

"I wonder what that was?" Riku asked, probably to himself rather than to me. But instead of answering like I always would have, I shrugged and continued playing hide and seek with the monsters of shadow. Though we checked almost every room we did not manage to track any of them.

_Think, Sora...Where would they be hiding? Somewhere they could ambush us, somewhere dark...Wait, what about the engine compartment? That place is the only other opening to the outside of the ship. They must be there!_

Dashing out of the room with my weapon of the Light at the ready, I grasped Riku's icy arm and dragged him along with me to my destination. While I careened past several hallways, finding my way through this maze of metal, the lights abruptly flickered out. But that was no matter, since the alarms of the ship were still blaring with crimson fury. Plus, a sign etched in lime green letters spelling out, "ENGINE ROOM" hung up ahead, so I only was forced to run for a short while before opening the door that lead to my objective.

We arrived upon a scene that I could only describe as freakishly creepy; it was absolutely shrouded in darkness in there, and we could see no Heartless at all. Only steady scratching noises of their sharp claws could reach our senses as they scrambled closer, chilling my bones when I realized that it was because they desired to rip our hearts out and devour our souls. My best friend, who had been entirely quiet for the whole time I pulled him around the ship, finally spoke up, "We shouldn't fight them in this darkness. But, if we lead them out into the hall, they couldn't surround us, or separate us; we'd be stronger fighting as a team, as well."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I shrugged, doing exactly as Riku suggested. In unison, we both crept slowly backwards, enticing the ruthless monsters to follow. Thankfully, they did, and we were able to bring the whole horde of them into the scarlet encased walls of the back hallway.

I glanced at Riku, finding that he had done the same to me. Without even speaking, we both dove into the fray of Heartless and thrashed about, trying to rid the Gaia of their scourge.

The first enemy I attacked had been nothing more than the basic shadow Heartless, and thus I decided to vanquish its unwanted presence with one swing of the Keyblade. Muscles in my right arm stretched to their fullest potential when I spun around in circle, casting a Fire spell as I rotated on my left foot. Flames danced about my whole body and weapon when the assault was issued, incinerating not only the target I had concentrated on, but five more Shadows as well; this new attack I had created on the spark of the moment proved more than useful in the fight. Another Heartless appeared behind me, hastily scraping its elongated crimson claws on my left calf. Though I recognized the scent of blood and the ache of a wound, the fresh infliction was not allowed to affect me. Strength and valor seemed to be within my grasp when I wheeled about and stabbed the dark manifestation in the center of its chest. Onyx rivers of shadow rose like a black fire as my Keyblade's tip met the Soldier's dark flesh, symbolizing the downfall of it's sad existence.

_Right, left, right, backwards, diagonally..._I issued the commands as fast as I acted them out. More and more Heartless were destroyed, obviously because I was at the peak of the fight; about half of the amount of the original number were left, leaving me able to enjoy the satisfaction I felt when destroying the rest. You see, when I fight, I never miss a chance to tell myself what I did good on that last swing of the Keyblade, and what I could have done better with that Blizzara spell. That's what made me such a versatile fighter: I learned from my mistakes within an instant and made sure they never occurred again the next. Sure, I slipped up every now and then, like everyone else does, but I constantly tried my best to ensure that I had the upper hand when it came to reflexes and effectiveness of my attacks.

_I wonder how Riku's doing? _I asked myself after killing another Heartless. I peeked over to where he had been a second before, realizing that he had fallen to the dark floor and was being trampled by a mass of ebony. Without even giving it a thought, I raced over there to his side and began summoning power up to issue a Thunder spell. Electricity bolted through my arms from my heart, tracing a path straight to the Kingdom Key.

When the magic was fully charged, I rose the Keyblade high above and squealed, "Thunder!"

Scathing my eyesight downwards, much like that of a hawk picking out the scurrying of its next dinner, Riku came into view; the built, older teenager was sprawled across the floor. Trickling streams of blushing ruby paint trilled down his arms and face, pooling on the floor in vast quantities. Reflected in the lakes of dark red was the somber face of my best friend; he was still aware of where he was, and hadn't fallen under the darkness of unconsciousness. Right then and there, Riku gritted his clean white teeth with one eye closed, bracing all of the throbbing pulses of terror that were caused by the relentless pursuits of the fiends. More blood flowed freely out of the back of my calves as well. Enduring the tenacious burning, I unsummoned the Keyblade. During the time that my right hand was wrapping itself around one of his belt loops, my left hand found its way to the back of Riku's shirt. He protested violently as I dragged him out of the battle with great speed, clawing and howling at me to stop and leave him free to fight. All I did in response was to shake my head and say, "I'm going to take you to the cockpit and have either Donald or Goofy heal your wounds while I finish this." Afterwards, I raised my hand behind us and put up a temporary Reflegun spell to repel the Heartless for a bit, leading Riku to safety in the meantime. Many of our enemies gathered around the obstruction, flying against it as if it was going to break down in time. Thudding noises echoed down the hallway, reaching my ears, giving me something to giggle about during this serious situation.

Two corridors awaited up ahead and neared closer when we scrambled down the first. I veered through to the left one. Another one laid farther down this one, and there were three at the end of that one. Some heartless managed to crawl past the others and were hiding in the nooks and crannies of the halls. Riku's strength was draining rapidly onto my clothing and the floor behind us. Assured that he was on the verge of a blackout, I ignored the shadows entirely and sped towards our destination.

Our objective was finally reached after an unknown amount of time.

"What are you doing? You guys are supposed to be fighting off the Heartless, not-" Donald began to scold us for not being in the fray, but he recognized my cargo of teenage boy before finishing.

"Sora...Let me go back, I can still fight..." the frail, yet still defiant companion of mine slurred through a cascade of vermilion. Worry seemed to clutch my whole being when I acknowledged its haunting message; Riku absolutely _needed _to be healed soon, or the entire floor would eventually mutate into a carpet of his life's essence. Jade green color immersed his body in a sudden flash. I cast a fleeting glimpse upwards into the face of my bird friend who just began to mutter the word, "Curaga." With hesitation to leave the boy behind heavy in my heart, I resisted the urge to stay and rushed away into the mysterious and murky passage on the other side of the cockpit, knowing that my duty to reduce the ranks of the Heartless was always going to be apparent throughout my destiny. A flash of glorious light lit up the hall. The crawling creatures inched backwards as swift as falling stars, their pointed fingers scathing across the floor with sparks as they shivered in the presence of the Keyblade.

My screech of aversion cried about the walls like wind, "Back off!"

But thus, they didn't understand and kept flying at me from all directions as if I had never even had the thought. Gifts consisting of hisses, lunges, claw swipes, and thunder spells all rained at me like we were at a Christmas party; none of the bare skin I had was left unmarked. To this day, I can still solemnly swear that at the time, I thought that I'd fallen into a dark shredder made with knives.

_How am I going to get rid of all of these? I can't use my drive forms, I'm almost out of magic, nobody is here to help me...Am I going to die in this stinking corridor of darkness? _I found myself questioning the unnamed and unknown presence that controlled my fate. Surely I would have the power to fight back all of these creatures? But that was answered with a no, for my knees slammed down onto the floor while I slithered from weakness. For some reason, though, the only thing I could conjure up within the constraints of my throbbing head as I was smothered in the midst of a gruesome battle was, _Am I ever going to be able to save those suffering people?_

My inquiry was left inside of the category of "unanswered", everything dissipating like twinkling stars in the wake of the morning's arrival. And, as humid darkness eclipsed my existence, I can only remember picking out a faint voice trembling on the edge of nothing...

_"Why?"_


	3. 1:1:3 An Emotion Reclaimed

Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect~

1.1.3

Sora's Story, Book 1, Chapter 3-An Emotion Reclaimed-

DISCLAIMER:I do not own anything in this script that belongs to Disney or Square Enix. All characters and areas belong, respectfully, to these two awesome companies.

AUTHOR'S ANNOUNCEMENT: Author's notes will now be put down at the bottom of the chapters, so you don't have to skim through a bunch of stuffs just to get to the story. Anyways....um...onwards to the fun part.

A wide layer of plush velvet was enveloping my whole body, excluding the minuscule portion that you would refer to as my head. Warmth eclipsed everything that I could possibly feel. While my eyes were still closed, darkness was the only thing I recognized within sight. I was certain that I was awake. Pondering about it for a while, I realized that it led me to one question: Where in the universe was I? All I recalled from before being here, in this comforting realm, was the battle on the Gaia, overcome by a horde of what seemed to be countless Heartless. My entire being quivered from the memory; a vision of the fight appeared inside of my head, consisting of a murky corridor blasting with freezing air, creeping shadows, and the steady thrum of malignant claws upon the metallic floor.

_What happened to me? I'm not dead, am I?_

_"Of course you're not dead, you idiot." _Roxas chimed in on cue.

I shook my head from side to side many times, pausing shortly to trace my fingertips gently on the back of my hair. An ache of small proportions appeared to rise from my legs and arms as I lifted myself cautiously off of whatever I had been laying on. With my hands serving as the foundation and my arms as the supports I leaned at an angle, my lower half still staying flat.

I replied back to the callous teen, my tongue tucked in my reddening cheek as I surveyed the room around me, _I love it when you think you're being funny._

He never answered back, probably because he knew I was right.

Once I peeled the covers off of my face, I was able to see where I _really _was. A quaint area about the size of an ordinary bedroom was laid across the colors of crimson and gold. The floor held a glorious covering of pliable scarlet carpet that I felt fit for only a king of much wealth. As I swung my feet over the side of the bed and planted them firmly into the soothing layer of red, I almost began to think I was resting on a bed of sleeping kittens. Except that, if it actually were a bed of kittens, they would have started to meow, hiss, and wail from either the weight of my huge feet or the reek of my huge feet. Either way, they would die of choking and no clean air to breathe.

A bed that was probably a queen size sat below me, with blankets of crimson encrusted with many unique and unidentifiable patterns emblazoned with white silk. Three pillows that felt like they were stuffed with clouds sat where my head had previously resided. There existed two in the back with golden tassels of thick thread on each corner and charcoal lining. The one in the front of these supporting cushions glowed compared to the other two, its variation of silver and vermilion material providing great contrast to the backdrop. Matching the covers of my resting place were the walls; a blood-red hue also was found there. A door that I assumed to be made of dark cherry wood was on the same wall as the headboard of the bed. Sunlight from the open window on the opposite side of the room cast an attractive radiance off of the shining silver handle of the door. Curtains that were the same shade as a dove's feathery wing, a sort of pale white, flew back and forth in the pleasant breeze. A certain perfume of sweet proportions floated about the air inside of this room, giving me an image of a vast meadow brimmed with aromatic flowers on an early Spring day. The smell tainted my senses so horrendously that saliva began to coat my tongue; it reminded me of traipsing into a humid kitchen to find a wooden table embroidered plates of fresh cookies, bars, brownies, cakes, truffles, pies, and any other baked confection you can imagine. For a moment or two more I took a breather, enjoying the welcoming surroundings of mine.

Another gust of the enticing, scent-laden breeze powered through the wide frame and stampeded past my burnished, chestnut hair. Rubbing my hand over only spikes, I commented to Roxas in a subdued, quiet tone, _I can't even remember taking a shower since I got onto the Gaia...Which is why I'm not exactly sure how there isn't dried blood all over my skin and grease seeping from my hair._

_"Well," _the blond struggled vainly to come up with an explanation. _"Maybe you've gained another power, or something. Hey, you __are__ the Keyblade Master. One of your abilities could be that you can take a bath and clean yourself whenever you need it. Which, by the way, you __always__ do."_

Ignoring his snide addition to the idea, I felt my head begin to move back in forth in denial as my confusion grew.

_And how would that even work?_

_"Like, you instinctively cast a spell on yourself without even thinking about it. And...well, you're clean. Just like that!" _he explained his outstretched theory.

My unimpressed reply shot down his thesis, _Yeah, that'd be nice and all, but I don't think your hypothesis is on the side of...'possible'?_

_"Whatever. At least I can be creative." _Roxas sighed in a downcast manner, but I could tell easily that he was just being dramatic, meaning that he really didn't feel that bad about my opinion. Then again, he never felt bad about _anyone's _opinion. A trait he picked up from me, his other half, I assume.

Denying the sensation of pain that was flickering up in my legs and arms, I finally got up and paced about my room, scanning over the furniture, walls, floor, and any other thing that existed within the confines. A mirror of towering height sat on the wall next to the end of the bed, allowing me to see exactly what condition the battle had left me in. And let me tell you, there were many more bruises and scratches than I had expected to recognize. Swollen, crimson, slightly blistered skin wove around my right arm like a Chinese dragon, the vermilion scales as thick as the spine of a dictionary being the most apparent; the dragon's tail started at the base of my wrist and ended like a claw mark over my shoulder at the head of serpentine creature. Some more evidence of where flame had hit were in other spots, including a considerably sized blister entwined around the southwestern portion of my chest, but none of them amounted to the monster on my arm. Endless scratches and cuts also marked my calves, thighs, and back , leaving a depiction that screamed "horrific". I twisted in a half circle, leaving one foot to remain still as I examined the inflictions more carefully, leaving my hands tense and taut with disgust, my upper lip lifted on the right side as well. Three long claw marks that probably belonged to only one grasp seemed to be the most deep of all, and were in the dead center of my back. About five other gruesome ones had been scathed into my skin diagonally, upwards and to the left, reaching to the length of one foot each; countless others were in plain sight as well, but were nothing compared to the first eight. My calves had about the same amount of claws marks. Otherwise, there was only one other, single mark shining with a freshly made scab, which was in the worst place possible.

The lids of my eyes drooped like the bough of a willow tree as I traced my fingers across the scar, winding the tips from my forehead to base of my chin.

_"God, that scratch is huge."_ Roxas managed to sputter out. But, of course, he couldn't just say something without adding a poke in the eye with a sharp stick afterwards.

_"Hey, look on the bright side: maybe Kairi will actually think you're manly now and not just some stick arm dude with a small-"_

All of the sudden the door of the room had flown open and slammed against the wall with a loud, _"bang"_, leaving only a trail of muggy air and the sight of Riku in its wooden wake. His lengthy silver hair glowed in the early morning sunlight from outside the window, and his eyes seemed to brighten at the sight of me. A smirk that only existed on one side of his face showcased his white teeth. And, as he always did, was wearing the typical get-up of a charcoal vest with a shining silver zipper in the center, smothered by cloudy gray, sunny gold, and sapphire blue sleeveless jacket. Baggy pants the typical color of jean material adorned his legs, while unique shoes encased his feet, ribbed with silver and encrusted with white. An off-white, cream, and drooping bandage sagged on his left wrist as well.

Riku coughed into his fist before asking, "How are you feeling?"

"I have a headache and my whole body hurts like hell," I chuckled with a little squeak in my puberty-stricken voice, wheeling my whole body around to face him. "But...I think I'll survive."

The sixteen-year-old raised his eyebrow like one of those "Test your Strength" bells at local fairs. But even though he appeared to be not convinced of my exaggerated report, a grin still left a crack across his face.

"So," I squatted back down onto my bed, the frame creaking to reveal its old age, rubbing my eyes with a fist as I continued. "Where in the universe are we? We're not still on the Gaia, right?"

The previously slouched teen lifted himself steady and straight at this inquiry, his facial expression changing into a serious one. "What? You mean you don't know?"

"Well, of course not. I only just woke up." I reminded him.

I could imagine that he was disciplining his own self right now due to the obvious body language he gave off; Riku face-palmed himself and laughed a quiet chuckle, shaking his head gently. "Good point." And, as I twiddled my toes together, weaving them in between the other and rhythmically pushing back and forth, he went on.

"Well, Sora, we're actually in Disney Castle as of now." the teen said in a tone that grew louder with every word; something that Riku did often, I remembered just then. Usually this only occurred when he was giving out info to someone, or teasing around. Probably more the latter of the two, at least of what_ I_ noticed. Without responding to his fleeting chronicle, I suddenly found myself rising from the bed once again. Riku's eyes cast over me suspiciously while I hastily made my way over to the closet. His face finally rested when the realization that I was just going to put my clothes on came to him. A few stray hairs from God knows what were slathered across the jacket of my dark outfit. One by one, I picked them off with only my forefinger and thumb, a scowl of disgust painted on my mouth. Once I had collected all of them, I allowed my clothes to slump to the floor as I ran over to Riku and put them on his shoulder.

"Gee, _thanks_." he sarcastically remarked, watching me pace back over to the abandoned get-up of mine. Though Riku was not in sight, I could actually hear the deep thrum of his laughing when I didn't repel any words back to him. While pulling my baggy pants on I twisted my upper half around to see why.

In the midst of the cool air from outside, the out-of-place tang of smelly feet, and the chortles erupting from Riku's mouth, the huge wad of fuzz, hair, and lint suddenly made an appearance in front of me. Before I could even examine as to what that meant, the bottom portion of my lip was tugged forwards and the ball of gross proportions was on my tongue.

A screech that should have belonged to a little girl escaped from my throat. I hacked with all my might, impatience welling up within my chest because the tendrils of dirty hair would not dis-attach. My bare hands fought desperately to scoop it all away, but to no avail, it managed to stay on. While I struggled violently to get it out Riku just sat there, cackling his ass off because of my overreaction.

The sphere of fuzz drifted lazily to the ground below, behaving like a cloud. I watched it float downwards with my tongue stuck out and an exasperated grimace on my face, my eyebrow lifted slightly in annoyance.

Riku crossed his arms defiantly in pride as he added to the pile, "Now _that's _disgusting.

* * *

Metal against metal tickled my ears like a feather on the foot of a child, leaving joy to erupt in my heart as I grinned at the star-shaped charm within my palm. The grooves between the points were not empty, for every one of my fingers were entwined within, each grasping a firm hold on the woven seashells. The links of the chain jostled back and forth in rhythmic pattern. Riku and I were pacing slowly down the main hallway of Disney Castle, heading straight for the throne room where King Mickey lay in waiting for our arrival. His arms swinging to and fro, the young man glanced down to see what was laying in my hand.

"That's right. Kairi gave you her charm the night we got that letter. I completely forgot."

"Yeah..." I replied, images of the pleasant looking, auburn-haired, lovely girl sweeping past my imagination. A bright ray of warm feelings plundered within my chest as a picture of us standing on the beach of Destiny Islands popped into my head. In that one moment I could feel her lithe arms wrapped snuggly around my waist, her head trembling ever so slightly while it was pressed against my beating chest. I could almost sense the strands of her silky hair slipping through my shaking fingers. The perfume she always wore also appeared to drift past my senses, reminding me solely of a bouquet of crimson roses.

I sighed with heart ache, knowing that I would have done anything at that moment to just catch a fleeting glance of her strolling past.

It was almost as if Riku had read my thoughts, for the only thing to break the silence was his deep voice, "You really miss her, don't you?"

"Of course I do." I leaned over at an awkward angle and stared up at him, putting on a goofy smirk in the meantime. Riku, noticing that I was back to 'normal Sora mode' for the first time in about a week, pushed open the smaller door on the bottom of the throne room's opening with one last raised eyebrow.

The Throne Room, as always, was a gigantic rectangle with ten white, indented, and towering columns on each side. Empty white floor lined the space between these and the one velvet red, golden trimmed river of carpet in the dead center of the room. This bright line of scarlet led up to the only...well, the only interest of the whole room: a large throne the color of the Sun, housing in it a mouse with big, round, onyx ears and welcoming, bright eyes.

"Your Majesty!" Yelping across the void between the mouse King and I, Riku was jogging alongside me, and within about two minutes we were hunched over in front of the royal seat, catching our long-awaited breaths. Which, by the way, was kind of depressing. I guess you could say we hadn't really realized that exercising would be necessary during our little 'vacation'. Sitting in front of the TV all night, killing each other at various RPG's, racing, and fighting games, gorging on cookies, ice cream, soda, chips, pizza rolls, sleeping in until two in the afternoon, sighing when Kairi decided to bring us along when she went shopping, etcetera. Basically, we did whatever teenage boys do on a day off from saving the universe with nothing but hope, friends, and a weird five foot key.

"Welp, I'm sure glad you all made it safely." the King squeaked cheerfully, leaping from his well-used chair of golden color, arms outstretched in greeting. King Mickey donned his usual attire, which consisted of the outfit he wore from my second journey. Crimson was the main component of the whole thing, leaving wonderful contrast to the canary yellow straps decked about the jacket. Two sagging pockets hung out on his scarlet pants, probably leaving room for potions and ethers when he was out fighting. His shoes were quite rounded at the tips, reminding me more of balloons than anything. Matching the material of yellow on the top portion, there was a crossing of straps in the center of his feet, paving the path to the single ebony one tucked around his ankles. My knees crackled like a bag of popcorn in the microwave when I fell to the earth without haste. Being the little cheeky five-year-old I was, I gripped the back of his shirt and tugged him forward into a tight hug. Shortly after Riku glanced down at him and gave a respectful, curt nod. I surmised that he didn't want to seem as immature as I had just did, as always.

Intertwining his charcoal, thin arms together in a tight lock, the King cocked his head to the side and waved his sleek tail back and forth before voicing his words, "I apologize about the little...'scuffle' that you had on the Gaia. I found that pathway mysteriously the day after I found out about the reconnection ordeal along with Donald and Goofy. And at that point there were absolutely no Heartless or Nobodies in sight-"

"Don't worry about it your Majesty." I interrupted with a shake of my head, leaving little time between then and my next statement, "Nobody knew it was going to happen. It's not your fault." But, of course I didn't believe that; the vision of the Heartless vessel prickled at the edges of my mind, prodding doubt inwards as I listened to the King once again.

"Yes, but I shouldn't have been so gullible." At that moment, the mouse allowed his face to bow and his ears to droop, expressing his guilt more than any words could announce.

"I should have known that it wasn't entirely safe. I mean, I've been explorin' space for longer than anyone else here, and I still haven't learned to not put my trust in the pathways completely."

My heart began to throb with my own guilt, becoming so tightly woven within that I couldn't resist gripping the center of my chest. I rested my blue eyesight for longer than a second, focusing on what I was going to say next. The words did not come out, though, and for that reason the King continued his expressions.

"Actually, Sora, to tell you the truth, I should have learned already to remember that there will always be enemies, lurking in the shadows and waiting to pounce," he paused to grit his teeth and tense his fingers, resembling a Shadow Heartless about to attack, adding comic relief to our discussion. "Waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting denizen of the Light."

"Wait," Riku knelt in front of our height-challenged friend to meet him face-to-face. "Are you saying that the ambush was planned?"

"It wouldn't surprise me." he answered simply. This left an ominous air to drift about the empty void around us. It left me feeling quite uneasy and tense, and soon my outward appearance began to change because of it; my brown eyebrows lowered as I glanced down in thought, my previous smirk leaving behind a scar of fright as it left my face. If it really was true...You know, the fact that the attack was sent from a powerful force? Well, that just meant that there was another person eager to tear my heart right out of my chest. And as I thought about it, my suspicions turning into theories and mutating into facts, only one name could possibly echo within the depths of my mind.

_Xehanort..._

_"My thoughts exactly." _my Nobody admitted with a dark tone to his voice. A flash of the thirteen members trampled past the darkness of my closed eyes, all wrapped in mysterious, dark coats and an air devoid of any feeling.

_Roxas, Larxene, Marluxia, Luxord, Demyx, Axel, Saix, Zexion, Lexaeus. Vexen, Xaldin, Xigbar, and..._

The Key of Destiny piped in to finish the last. _"Xemnas."_

"I'm pretty sure that I know what you all are thinking, but we have absolutely no evidence that it was Xehanort." King Mickey ensured. But even though he seemed to be calm and solid, I could feel a fragile energy within him, as if there was some long forgotten memory of Xehanort's tremendous power stirring about his conscious mind. What felt like an hour passed by us while we stood there, bathing in our soup of dark thoughts and disturbing images.

"Your Majesty, supper is ready!" a servant peered sideways over the meager door carved within the immense one of the Audience Chamber, calling beyond to us. Though I could not recognize the face of this individual as I swept around on one foot, a white gloved hand, trademark of all members of Disney Castle, was slowly retreating back out into the hall.

Without one word and a hand clenching all of our stomachs in longing, we all drifted like the top layer of fresh snow caught in a breeze to the door.

_I really hope they're not serving too much food for the meal... _I moaned to Roxas in hope that he would reply without a sarcastic insult.

_"And why is that?" _he questioned my statement with half an ounce of effort, obviously not paying as much attention as I had wished he would.

* * *

Shadows that appeared as creeping flames of Darkness reached out of the unpretentious door, almost as if they were the hands of Death himself. They spread out like gravy over mashed potatoes, oozing about the floor. Then, the flames proceeded to twine themselves about the towering pillars that you would recognize as legs. Soon, they almost entirely consumed everything, wrapping him gently with the tendrils of black color.

A curious tinge of feeling mixed with fear danced within the man's heart as he glanced down at his own disappearing body. While one half of his being welcomed this onyx fury, the other obviously rejected it. The hands that he had wrapped around the frame of this minuscule door trembled, though he soon came to openly welcome this newfound, black power.

_"It seems that you still cannot reject the temptation of Darkness, even after all these years." _an ominous tone of voice echoed throughout the confused man's head, leaving him to ponder what had caused this to occur. It appeared to thrum gently whenever a short "e" sound was produced, and cracked from what he assumed to be many years.

Another younger voice shot back at the first, _"That would be the pot calling the kettle black, you horrible old monster. I'll be happiest man in the universe when I get away from this hell hole. And when that happens, I __**will **__kill you."_

The elderly toned one cackled in mockery, as if this outburst of violent cries amused his sagacious mind. This left the aged man to state the facts clearly, _"Such harsh words from one who brought this fate upon himself."_

This was just too much for the astonished being enclosed with the fingers of ebony, endless hatred rising within his chest for no apparent reason as the pair of enemies fought longer. Fingers grasped his hair as the painful emotion rolled on, a thundering storm of chagrin brewing within. He tumbled to the ground in a massive heap, not even noticing that he was now completely eclipsed within the vines of onyx. On and on, the ache of the everlasting, ancient, timeless emotion continued. Within moments he could not sense anything but loathing, and for some reason it was only directed at the older man who had pointed out the obvious truth.

_"You know that I never used Darkness for anything but helping my friends. Unlike you, who destroyed the entire lives of three who had barely even lived. You told them lies, and turned them against each other. You ripped their hearts out and sent them into endless torment just because you wanted to quench your curiosity's thirst for knowledge."_

_"And all for a good reason, my dear boy. The Keyblade Wars __**must **__return for me to be able to witness their greatness, and to observe what Darkness and Light fought for. I almost had made it, but that stupid boy and woman you call your 'friends' decided to get in the way. They completely interfered within my plans. And then that foolish child came along and destroyed the seeds remaining, and therefore left my garden of fruition bleak and desolate."_

_"Wait," _the younger voice was caught in a dumbfounded state. _"What child are you referring to?"_

Shaking and furious, the older one grunted with a scoff, _"And what reason do I have to tell you that?"_

_"Tell me right now, before I take control back over this body." _he threatened with a serious tone.

_"What makes you think that you could even possibly attempt to regain mobility? My heart is obviously stronger than yours."_

_"So, you really think that? You forget that I have one thing that keeps me reigning over you." _

_"Humph," _his voice scowled with disbelief, hiding the deep and trickling bout of fear within. _"Would that be your huge ego? Or maybe-"_

The geezer was interrupted by the teenager with one simple word that many could claim to have heard countless times before.

_"A light."_

His muscles twitched and ached. His head pounded and thrummed. His eyes glinted with horror. To explain it simply, the man laying on the shadow smothered floor was now quieted in shock from the wailing screeches of the elder within his head. During the whole time the being screamed his dark heart out to the heavens, the other, less aged one casually chuckled as power over their shared body returned to him, relieving his hunger for his life that had remained for those long, thirteen years. It was almost as if he were donning a human costume; energy and perseverance reached through the veins of his reclaimed vessel, following steadily the first digging of fingernails into the palms of these familiar, but still foreign hands. He could mysteriously sense the years plummeting into oblivion and the transforming of his middle aged body into the stature of a proud, but young teenager.

_Clank! _

Silver metal that lined the floor of the doorway created a tumultuous noise. The previously reclining boy had thrust his strong fist into the ground; it was symbolic of his victory over the enduring battle with the menacing creature, a radiant flag billowing above the kingdom he had just won power over. The crimson within the folds of power representing valor, the gold resembling endurance, and the onyx threading a tale expressing the beautiful, yet sinful taste of accomplished revenge. Oh, how he had absolutely yearned for the day when he would finally surpass the first step to meeting his single goal.

A triumphant sneer unveiled gleaming, dove white teeth within the darkness, opening the curtain for the revealing of his sky blue eyes. They glinted like the depths of the sea as the many rampaging emotions brushed through his recently dormant heart. A rush of pride here and there, a dash of joy added to the mix. He couldn't be sure, though, since the main ingredient of this victorious meal was probably rejoice. This emotion acted as a darkness repellent, sending all of the suffocating vines away from his body and back into the now closing door. Truly, nothing at that moment could possibly break his unfamiliar state of mind. As he awkwardly rose from the misted corridor's bottom like a zombie, recollections of this happy feeling rushed back into his awareness. But, of course, this was back when he had been carefree and safe from the clutches of _Him_, the one whose real name brought chills to tingle along his spine. The presence of the unspeakable man was buried deep inside of this freed teen, but it suggested that he may return at any time, albeit not easily. But only because their hearts were now in unison, instead of two within one vessel like it used to be. That was all thanks to the work of the monster that still remained within himself. Which was why he felt revolted at that moment: his own heart, the dark one's heart..they were the same. Though it brought a great emptiness for the young man, he still couldn't deny that the chances of being absolutely free were slim. He could picture the elder now, spitting and hissing at this remark.

_"You will never be rid of me." _

A churning sensation gurgled underneath the center of his stomach, as if he had actually heard him say this malignant statement to him. Without even thinking about it, the broad-shouldered figure began to pace across the hall, opposing the ominous closed door that his possessor had tried to lead him into in order to strengthen his marionette strings' control even more. That's exactly what he did: used the darkness to gain power over others. And it often worked, too. But as the teenager was plunged into an even darker shadow, he vowed right then and there that he would neverlet that happen again, even if it meant that it would remain as his job to restrain the villain forever.

Little did he know that the envisioned words of Xehanort were not just a figment of his imagination.

* * *

A plate warmed with a cascade of food remained like a wounded soldier in front of me, making me sad that I had ignored it for such a prolonged time. Steam danced in waves above the assortment of beef stroganoff, biscuits, corn mixed with white rice, and creamed peas. While everyone was practically scuba diving in their delicious meals, I was staring condescendingly at mine as if a goose had just dive-bombed my plate with projectile droppings.

_My stomach really doesn't feel all that great right now. _I moaned silently. I must've sent a signal out like a telephone tower, though, because everyone jerked their heads up to stare at me. The haunting sense of awkwardness dazzled around the table while they continued this showdown of puzzled, fixated glances.

"I'm surprised you're not inhaling your food down, Sora." Goofy admitted with an ecstatic grin on his snout; he was obviously amused by this foreign behavior of mine. Though downcast and saddened for unknown reasons, a convincing smile rose on my face to brighten the room's atmosphere. That was one thing I was pretty good at: smirking and making people buy it even when I felt horrible. I guess it's a trait that most Keyblade Wielders had to pick up. I mean, adventuring across endless space to find that your best friends were in grave danger didn't really induce any happiness, right?

Riku patted my shoulder with a hard slap of his hand, "He'll be fine. He's just a little shaken from the fight, right?"

Refusing to reply with words, my eyes concentrated on the thick, golden gravy rushing over mountains of creamy potatoes, making sure that they never once met anyone else at the table's gaze. No one pestered more about this subject.

About twenty minutes later everyone had finished their massive dinner while mine was barely touched upon. A sigh erupted from one end of the table, a few random conversations about ice cream and the eight months they spent with a friend that they like to call, "diarrhea". And, I think I'll leave it to all of your imaginations of who was saying what, because I'm sure you have an idea. Nudging Riku with a poke in the arm, he slowly turned his head to me as if to ask what I wanted, but then figured it out after noticing that the whole room was quiet except for the guffawing of Goofy at the other end of the table. That, and King Mickey's disgusted reply.

"Goofy, I'm sure glad that your taking part in a heated discussion here, but...well, the rest of us don't really wanna hear it."

"Gawrsh," the embarrassed canine scratched at the back of his head. "I didn't think that anyone would be disturbed all that much."

"And who_ wouldn't_ realize that?" my friend, who was pretty much dying of laughter, whispered a hearty chuckle into my ear.

After the massive dinner within the dining hall had come to a close, everyone was dismissed to whatever they wished to do for the rest of the evening. The King let Riku and I off as well, but requested our presence in his conference room a few hours later at exactly eight-o-clock. I still remember quite clearly, for some strange reason, my life-long friend's mention as we paced to our respective dorms, "I didn't know that he even_ had _a conference room."

"I guess he has to." I shrugged back, listening to our reverberating footsteps on the elegant crimson carpet below as I did.

"He does?"

My legs failed to keep up their aching pace, allowing me to stop and answer, "He _is _a King. And, well, Kings usually have to attend to political matters."

He never replied, but just continued walking in that hunched-over way that had been undoubtedly carved into my memory for years beyond the limits of my life. After a passing of swift goodbyes and small waves, we both retired to our rooms. And, after a few minutes of dispersing my eyes about my room, I fell into a deep sleep filled to the brim with visions of the three known as Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, knowing all the while with a heavy weight in my heart that I was going to do whatever I could to revive them and free them from the clutches of torment. No matter how many years, how much pain, or how many worlds I had to travel, I vowed that I _would _give them their life back.

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE OF AWESOMENESS:

Welcome to Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect once again, my readers and fellow wanderers of fanfiction. As usual, I will now address the wonderful names of my awesome reviewers who were kind enough to write a comment since the last update. First is ccsakura21, who was very sincere to let me know her thoughts. I really appreciate it! :) By the way, I know this story is dark, ccsakura21, but it'll get better. Just trust me. :) Sora won't be a whiny little emo kid for much longer. In fact, this chapter lightens up a bit from the last two. Actually, it lightens up A LOT. Anyways, my second thanks goes to Tidusace10 for reviewing as well. I really appreciate your time. Sorry that I haven't updated in a long time :(. My computer was on the fritz and I was unable to write for quite a while. Usually, you'll see an update about every two weeks from now on.

The Author of Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect,

~Eternal Symphonia~

Character Descriptions

Sora Veron

Age:16

Eye Color: Light Blue

Hair Color: Medium Brown

Astrological Star Sign: Pisces

Birth Date: March 27th

Weapon: The Kingdom Key

Universal Symbol: Three-Pointed Crown

Key Fighting Skills: Endurance and Speed

Titles: The Key Bearer, The Key to Everything, The Door to the Light, The Keyblade Master

Home World: Destiny Islands

Personality: Bright and determined, Sora Veron is a young man from Destiny Islands, a small world that is eternally blessed with an ocean breeze and a tropical climate. Sora is very optimistic and never seems to be down, even during the most tough times. He also has an uncanny sense of justice and will never ignore someone who is in need of an extra hand of help. Though there is a rule about protecting the "World Order", meaning not messing in the affairs of other worlds, Sora usually breaks it without a second thought due to his good heart. He also makes friends easily. Many titles have been given to this young boy, including the "Door to the Light", and "The Key Bearer". Recently, though, Sora has had many cryptic dreams of a young male his age and his travels across the worlds. Who could he possibly be?

Riku Lendter

Age: 17

Eye Color: Turquoise

Hair Color: Silver

Astrological Star Sign: Sagittarius

Birth Date: November 13th

Weapon: The Way to Dawn

Universal Symbol: Angel's Wing

Key Fighting Skills: Power and Stability

Titles: None

Home World: Destiny Islands

Personality: Calm and brave, Riku Lendter is a young man from the world of Destiny Islands, a tropical paradise that borders a wide ocean. Riku is quite an over-achiever and often gives off an air that says, "I'm not afraid of anything.". Most of the time, Riku is more of a thinker than a do-er, and usually ponders the outcomes before jumping into the fray, much unlike his best friend Sora. Many would describe this young man as a "loner", since he is quiet and seems to not care. Actually, he is a warm-hearted, kind friend that would never betray anyone. Back when he was fifteen and during Sora's first adventure, Riku turned to Darkness thanks to Maleficent's influence. He fought with Sora because he really felt jealous. But now he has returned to the side of the Light and helps Sora out on his adventures, whether it be in the background or among his side.


	4. 1:1:4 Strangers, Stars, and Secrets

Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect~1.1.4~Sora's Story,Book 1,Chapter 4~Strangers, Stars, and Secrets~

_Where in the worlds had I been? What, in these past thirteen years, have I done? What steps had I taken when acting as a slave to the puppet master? What have I seen? Who has seen me? Who has remembered who I am?_

These were the questions that the dejected existence felt rush past, stampeding through his now purified and clean mind. Though all of them sent a melancholic sensation to tremble within his heart, only the last one was able to embrace the whole of him. Had his life-long friends recalled the determined, quiet young man that they had experienced so many wonderful things with? No, of course he shouldn't be wondering whether or not that they even cared; he should be fretting about whether or not they were even still alive. From what he remembered, their situation as of now probably consisted of darkness, regret, torment, and maybe even the clutches of death.

_I don't even remember the last time I saw their faces._ He claimed with sorrow, knowing full well that it was true. But even so, he could still imagine their whole selves, one being a blond boy with bright, sparkling, aqua blue eyes, and the other a blue-haired girl with dark cobalt irises. He was puzzled as to how they looked now, if they were even still breathing. Thirteen years were enough to alter the appearance of a lost friend, he was sure of. He hoped that someday he would be able to revive them and their home. Then they would go back to way it used to be: when life was only an amount of time meant to be spent on enjoying warm days and encountering new horizons with your friends by your side. Training under their Master, exploring their abilities by using the Keyblade, poking fun at each other almost constantly, and watching bright showers of stars shooting past navy sheets of night. These were all the things they did together. But now it was quite different; the call upon them to rid the universe of the beings of negative emotions and to find the other Master had, eventually, led them to wherever they were now.

The halls he had been passing through were embroidered with countless torches, their adamant light dispersed evenly along the corridors of shadow. Walking in his typical, straight-legged, head-held-high3 way, he kept on asking himself the same question every once in a while: Where am I? He remembered almost nothing from his past, save for when he had been free and training to become a Keyblade Master. Though, since all of the memories of his time as the apprentice of the ruler of Radiant Garden were still buried deep within his revived heart, he knew that in a short amount of time his recollections would come back, no matter how much shame and guilt it would bring his shattered existence to feel.

Finally, he had stumbled upon a place that seemed welcoming enough to rest in for the time being; stained glass windows depicting a multitude of things shed their tenebrous light to encompass the whole room, sending it under a distinct atmosphere that resembled the last unyielding reaches of dusk. Instead of donning a floor interlaced with silver metal, marble tiles covered the whole vicinity. To the figure who had resided in darkness for so long, their eye-catching contrasts were even more brilliant as they glimmered in the setting Sun's rays; a glow of white and soft blue emanated off of the glassy material, leaving the young man's sapphire irises to squint in the beautiful light. Cream benches of stone also were apparent within the quiet room. He decided then to relax in this silence-eclipsed dimension, knowing that he would start the search for his friends first thing when he finished. Hardly comfortable, the seat of a sea foam hue was not very nurturing to the wary traveler's aching body; walking through an endless maze of Darkness and foreboding thoughts did not do much to tame the pain of a lonesome human. But the one thing that helped him through it was remembering that every single step he took, no matter if it was false, was just one leap closer to his single goal. So, with a pair of throbbing feet and legs, he had continued his lasting journey into the dark corridors. After about what seemed like hours, he had made it through, only to fall into the hands of this lone hall of stained glass, marble, and peaceful light.

_I probably should start searching for my belongings; this cloak of darkness has been worn for much too long._ The enigmatic boy halted to lower his eyebrows in anger, the silver zipper and onyx material of his clothes flowing over a pair of ebony boots. _It brings ill memories to mind._

Sleep began to gently tug his eyelids downwards as exhaustion kept him captive. He knew that falling into the depths of slumber was not a wise choice at this moment, for various reasons.

He silenced his own doubts with a lazy shake of his head,_ No matter; I'll just rest for while and then keep on going. No one will even come here, to this abandoned room, anyway._

And, at that instant, the weary enigma whose friends were lost, lowered the side of his face to settle upon the dense, chilling, and bitterly uncomfortable seat, finally allowing dreams to take root in his mind. As they fluttered about in the darkness of slumber, like butterflies in a garden of milkweed, two faces with cobalt orbs and smiles peered at him against a background of shimmering stars and meteor showers. The strong heart inside of him quivered with joy as the three of them settled down on a rocky ledge; to digest this display of cosmic proportions and revel in their company was the soft pressing of a key on the piano of his soul, weaving together a harmonious and gentle melody of hope.

* * *

They all just sat there, each bright face of their great number inviting further scrutiny under my own determined blue gaze. As with most things that bathed in existence, every one of them was unique and wielded their very own energy that came in all sorts of amounts, color, and types; a little, a lot, some, not much, orange, crimson, gold, lime, azure...whatever other trait you can think of. The certain way that they glowed in the darkness was also very unpredictable. While one cast glorious rays in all directions, another's path was only to dimly shine next to it with subtle radiation. My fist placed carefully in order to support my suddenly heavy head, I realized everyone followed this pattern; to have a bright personality and being able to dazzle those around you with your good heart, or to give off an attitude that only sparked interest once in a blue moon.

A combination of obsidian and teal orbs gained a withdrawal of my attention from the scene of stars outside the window in the King's conference room. Realizing that my focus had been spent on a mural of small lights instead of the intense discussion that was flaring about, Riku and King Mickey stopped their chatter, leaving an eerie deadness to sit in our presence.

The King cleared his throat to announce that he was about to speak. But before he could even get a wisp of air in his nostrils I uttered an apology for not paying attention, my eyes swaying back and forth in embarrassment.

"That's all right, Sora." King Mickey nodded, but couldn't help adding a few squeaky sighs in at the end. "I'm just making sure that you actually get the information you need. Because...well, goin' off on an adventure to save our friends wouldn't really be all that easy if you didn't even know what you were lookin' for."

After a rub of the back of my head and a cheerful grin, the ruler of Disney Castle went on with his briefing. Basically, he told Riku and I that it was my absolute, number one duty to free all of those who had been scourged by the plans of Master Xehanort; like he had said before, though, those tormented beings were Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. The first mentioned, Terra, had been a determined and powerful Keyblade Apprentice under Master Eraqus, who had fallen too close to the temptations of Darkness. For unknown reasons, Master Xehanort had chosen him as a new container for his heart; I questioned as to why the elderly Keyblade Master would even need another vessel, but King Mickey didn't have any answers to cure my curiosity. He continued on to tell us that the student of Ansem the Wise, the Xehanort we knew, was actually a mixture of the two Keyblade Wielders.

"You see," the mouse grabbed a spiral notebook from inside his desk drawer, a pen tucked tightly within the confines of the metal binding. "It all comes down to this simple formula."

King Mickey pressed his pen down onto the blank page, but did not start to draw right away. Instead, he tapped the ink-filled writing utensil on the paper, closing one eye and concentrating on the ceiling with the other. After an, "A-Ha!", and a bared tongue, stuck out as thoughts transferred to the page, a crimson picture lay in front of Riku and I.

A body, a soul, and _two _hearts.

"Judging by the personality of the Xehanort you two have encountered, I can tell that Master Xehanort's heart is in control of their shared vessel."

Shock rippled through my every fiber at this point, leaving a confused and disturbed look to be sprayed across my face. Did he just say, "Is in control."? Did I really just hear... You know what? If I have to fight against...

"Wait a second...What do you mean by 'is in control'? Shouldn't you be saying _was _in control?" I inquired, doubt laden within my voice. Actually, I was afraid that the King was going to say something that I _really _didn't want to hear.

_This better not mean that Xehanort is back again, because I__** don't**__ want to have another creepy maniac obsessed with Kingdom Hearts after me._

_"Not to bring you down or anything, Sora, but I think that's what he meant." _Roxas admitted to me through our connection with each other.

"Your Majesty," Riku interrupted the silence. "We defeated both Xehanort's Heartless _and _Xemnas. Shouldn't he be gone? I mean, I saw their downfalls and I'm pretty sure..."

King Mickey began to doodle another messy picture upon the page, downwards and to the right of the original. But this time a formula consisting of three figures was put down. And I'll tell you right now, it was _not _something that I had wanted to see.

_Person's vanquished Heartless+Person's vanquished Nobody=Rebirth of Original Person._

"So you're saying that the 'apprentice of Ansem the Wise' Xehanort is back?"

The King leaned forward and lowered his head, a serious glare scintillating within his dark depths. My own eyes widened with horror. Riku shuffled uncomfortably in his velvet red seat. The bright stars outside in the sky were smothered with clouds that resembled ashes. Our only bright sources of light, a quintuplet of white wax candles, were snuffed out by a sudden, chilly, and damp breeze blowing from one of the windows behind His Majesty's chair, allowing only a sliver of radiance from the half covered moon to shine. I glanced around the darkened room, thinking that this was the perfect setting for the revelation of some dark secret; my irises had caught a nervous glance from Riku as well, fear and tension oozing from him like sap from the trunk of a heady pine. A breath was drawn into the lungs of the mouse facing us, draining in not only icy air, but also some of the curled tendrils of smoke from the recently burning candles. I dared not look into his eyes at this moment, instead focusing on the ribbons of gray streaming over four tall, blackened candle wicks.

"Remember what I said before?" King Mickey scrutinized at both of us in turn, and then continued. "There is a possibility that his dark presence has been revivin', as there is a chance that his unyielding determination to find Kingdom Hearts has been snuffled out. But judging by the strength in his hearts, in which also helps in whether or not someone comes back from the dead, he probably _has _returned. Where the man is right now, I don't know, but it will be our job to stop'em, get Terra back, and get rid of Master Xehanort's lingering spirit forever."

"But how will we even get the old Terra back, anyway? If Master Xehanort is in control of everything, I'm pretty sure that he won't just pack up his bags and move out." I replied in question.

King Mickey sighed, tapping his right pointer finger on the desk and resting his cheek on his other hand at the same time, "That's another problem we're going to have to deal with: separatin' the two from each other. And, if their hearts have been combined already, there might not even be a chance to save him. If we had a true Keyblade Master along with us, he or she could easily unlock Terra and Master Xehanort's hearts from the body. But...well...we don't have anybody."

"Maybe Master Eraqnits, or whatever his name is, taught one of the other two how to release hearts." Riku suggested, leaving the King to shake his head at the boy's pronunciation of the Keyblade Wielder's name.

"Well, that just means that we'll have to save Aqua or Ven first. Judging by how far they were in their training, Aqua would probably be the most likely candidate."

Raging fury, very vast in amount, prickled at me over and over again. Staring at the King with an annoyed disposition sent him a message that I wasn't exactly happy with this while hearing that Xehanort, the persistent and maniacal, and creepy...whatever else that cold-hearted villain was, was going to be involved with _this _journey, too. Because of him, my whole home was destroyed and my friends were sent into darkness, possessed, and had their hearts stolen away. Because of him, the whole universe's last thread of life was put on _my _shoulders, a boy who only wanted to enjoy the rest of his teenage years with sunny days and clear skies. Because of him, I had lost a whole _year _of my life, just because that horrible man wanted nothing but power. And here King Mickey was, asking me to save one half of the equation that equaled the most evil creature in the universe. My teeth started to ache after a while, mostly from how hard I had been grinding them together, following along with the pain that began to rise in my chest. Why should I save him, anyways? Sure, I'll be glad to rescue Ven and Aqua, because they had absolutely no power over their fate. But _Xehanort_? No way...and I mean _no way,_ am I _ever _going to do a favor for that villain.

"Look, Sora, I know that it's hard for you to bear it, but Terra needs to be-"

My eyes flickered open again to see a picture of the King with a desperate gleam in his own irises as my interruption sliced a searing scar across the room, "He _needs_ to be saved? The last time I checked, every single-" a right-handed pinch of two of my fingers cut a pause in my sentence. "-teensy, tiny, itty, bitty, and any other word for small you can think of, part of Xehanort has tried to _kill _me. According to you, Terra _is _a teensy, tiny, itty, and bitty part of him. So, my only question is why should I waste time and effort to free him?"

"Because, Terra was..._is _a friend of mine. And of Aqua and Ven's, too. I know you never met him, but he was a determined and caring man who never would have hurt anyone. _Xehanort_, the Keyblade Master of Darkness, would have."

"Not to butt in you two's argument here," Riku spoke as he sat up straighter, fingers tightening on the edge of his chair with the strength of an eagle's talons. "But I agree with Sora; why should we try to rescue him? And if we successfully do free him from Xehanort, he's probably only going to bring bad luck over to us. I'm pretty sure that that creepy old geezer isn't going to just let the guy go like that. Not to sound selfish or anything, but I really _don't _want someone with a past like that walking around here."

The King scanned over both of us in turn. A disappointed frown lay on his face, the corners of the mouth between his chin and eyes growing tighter as an unidentifiable emotion raced within. Was it anger that started to brew in his irises? Or maybe a tinge of regret? Irritation? No, it seemed more like frustration. Frustration at the fact that my friend and I were struggling against his tide of effort to convince us. I admit that pity for the desperate mouse rampaged through my chest, but still, I would not give in. Not only because Terra was a fragment of a dark mural, but also because I knew that Riku's deepest fear was to meet, face to face, with the one person who had sent his whole world into an everlasting corridor of betrayal, regret, and distrust. No matter what path Riku had walked or what path he was bound to travel, I would be there to back him up when he needed it most. Nothing would ever change that. Not even the decrees of King Mickey, who was basically ordering us to jump into a death trap.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty, but putting our heads that far into the jaws of danger is too much for us to risk." I ended the argument right then and there, my arms crossed over to show that my mind had been made up. Thankfully, the King saw this and replied warmly, though a frown was still apparent.

"Welp, at least you'll help me save the other two. But after we rescue Aqua, we're going to have this discussion again. Maybe by then you will have changed your minds."

_Do you mean that we'll actually __**want **__to rescue him? Or are you attempting to suggest that Aqua be there to convince us? _I spat quietly.

The answer did not come to me. So, when Riku and I did not say anything back to him, our argument eventually faded away and brought in a brighter topic: how were we going to go about saving the first of the three, Aqua?

* * *

As we had planned after that conversation in the gloomy depths of the King's conference room, our list of things to do in order to prepare for the journey that lay ahead were nothing but simple tasks. First, we were ordered to get a good night's sleep. Second, wake up and eat breakfast. Third, meet in the conference room again with Donald and Goofy this time, briefing them on the situation and telling them to watch the castle while we were gone. Fourth, travel to the Gummi Hangar to board the newly repaired Gaia.

"So where exactly are we going, your Majesty?" I asked the King, who was presently occupied with starting up the ship.

Flipping up a few switches, pressing a button or two, and pulling a lever downwards were executed by his gloved hand as an answer was dangled in the air, "We need to figure out where Aqua exactly is. So, I thought that we should-"

_Clank! Clattle! Clunk! K-k-k-k-chunk!_

Twisting around on one foot, a confused expression on my face, I was met with an image of two glass bottles hurtling through the air towards me, one filled with orange liquid and the other a substance of brown. They gleamed in the lights of the ship, their shiny, smooth surfaces eventually grasped by my hands after I had caught them. Riku, one hand on the door of the fridge and the other curled around a bottle of his own, took one of his fingers, pointed, and nodded, "One for you and one for the King."

With a slight shrug, I mumbled a thanks and headed towards the King, my feet creating much noise from walking on the metal floor of the ship.

As I handed the dark brown soda to King Mickey, he continued his cut-off sentence, "We are heading towards Master Yen Sid's tower, since he might know something about her whereabouts. I think that you two should get a new set of clothes for the journey ahead while we're there, as well. Merryweather, Flora, and Fauna will gladly design them for you again, I'm sure."

"Wait..._I _get new duds too?" Riku questioned.

"You might as well. I mean, you're going on the journey with Sora, right?"

"Well, yeah." the surprised teen replied.

The Gaia began to roar at this moment; the engine grumbled at the back of the vessel, and the lights of the control panels lit up like a metallic meadow harboring a nest of fireflies. While the contraptions of the ship sprung into life, Riku and I both paced up to the King as he turned around, a cartoony grin etched into his face.

"Ready to go?"

"Mm-hmm." the two of us tilted our heads up and down.

"Well, then, you might as well get into your seats." he suggested. My silver haired friend obliged and took his position on the chair to the right of the King, taking in a few glances here and there towards me, as if he were expecting me to do the same. Personally, though, all I really wanted to do was grab one of my notebooks from my room on the Gaia, sit down in the kitchen with a heap of golden brown, delicious, and salty pretzels, and munch on them while starting to create the contents of my adventure record...journal...or whatever I was going to call it.

Lifting my right hand up and flicking it downwards as if there had been water on it, I turned around and muttered a farewell, "I'm going to rest in the kitchen for a while, if that's okay with you guys."

They did not reply, so I took the opportunity and slipped out of the cockpit, heading into the hallway that connected the bedrooms and the engine compartment to the front. A normal variety of paintings stood out from the wall like a front of soldiers, one after another, lining up to battle the dullness of the gray ship around it.

_Cr-eeeeeeak! _Upon opening the door of my bedroom, the hinges began to squeal in excitement, adding sound to the melody of quiet within the ship. Where had I put my journal and pens, again? The question rumbled in my mind as I rummaged about within my rucksack. Various things were scattered within the dark folds. But I couldn't seem to find that one journal reserved for writing an account of my adventures in.

"There you are," my fingers stumbled upon the hard cover book and a red-ink pen.

* * *

A few words instantly scribbled themselves onto the pages, but the more shy descriptions had trouble making their way out. Basically, the journal's first entry was a rant about everything that had happened so far; the visions, the dreams, the battle on the ship, the argument we'd had last night in the conference room, and how badly I'd wanted to search the cupboards for something to eat. Not very interesting to an eager reader, but enough for Kairi to swallow when I got back to the islands. Besides, I'd get to the better parts later, since the adventure hadn't really begun.

And with that, I slammed the diary closed and left the pen to roll away from me on the table. I heard it tumble onto the floor, though I could not see it while my head had been thrust into one of the cabinets in the room. To my greatest surprise, there was actually a large golden bag of pretzels tucked in the back behind a plethora of other junk food.

I ripped the plastic open and began devouring its contents.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Deep and rumbling, a voice called back to the intrusive rapping of his door, "Yes?"

"Remember, you two," King Mickey, positioned in front of us, raised his eyebrow and swished a finger about in seriousness. "Give Master Yen Sid _any _sign of disrespect, and you'll have to add another few bruises to your count. You got that?"

"Yes, your Majesty." I reassured him for the both of us.

"Good...oh yes, and Riku? Bow to him when _we_ do, okay. Don't say anything in his presence unless asked. And remember to-"

"Yeah, yeah. I can manage, your Majesty." he performed a intrusion into the lecture, a shake of his head added afterward.

"Who's there?"

"Oh, Master Yen Sid, it's just a trouble-makin' mouse and his two friends."

A pair of bulgy eyes and a crooked nose, which reminded me completely of a classic witch, drove into the corridor. Two small black dots came to rest upon the King, leaving a smile to lift the elderly man's cheeks. Uncanny, for someone who looked like the type that would make even concrete explode into shards with just one swift, but still piercing leer.

Eventually, the elderly sorcerer's appearance was completely exposed. The King was pulled into an embrace at the same time. While the master and apprentice hugged each other, a small wave of a hand was sent to Riku and I from the wizard. I bowed low to the ground in respect, my best friend following suit.

Master Yen Sid's expression turned from joy to surprise, "What happened to your arms, Sora? And that _scar_," I shuffled backwards when he traced a spidery finger over the abrasion on my face, with the clamminess, in truth, forcing my stomach to wrench; I _hated _it when people touched me without warning.

"It's...uh...it's just from a recent battle I had with some Heartless; no big deal."

Raising an eyebrow, his gaze rested on the older boy next to me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young man. The King has told me many great stories about yourself."

"Likewise." Riku responded with a grin.

"I think I know why you three are here; to save the people who are in need, no?"

We all nodded in reply.

"Actually, we were wondering if you had any idea where Aqua could be, Master Yen Sid. We're going to start looking for her first, but we don't have a clue as to where she is." I explained.

His eyes flickered about the corridor, as if searching for an unwanted listener to our conversation. He must have found none, though, and wrapped his arms around the three of us and coaxed us to venture inside his study.

The humble room of stars and moons was almost exactly the same as it had been the last time I'd been there, with all its books, shelves, and various wall decorations and knick-knacks. Some things were different about it, like how there was a flower perked up in a pot on his desk, showcasing its lily resemblance with white dots set against a background of cobalt on the petals. And, instead of having just the three white candles upon the table, there was a circle of four tall, brass candle pedestals around the table, all adorned with one crimson pillar of wax. I almost walked into one of them, actually, after Yen Sid had let us go.

Recuperating from my stumble past the candle holder, I noticed that three chairs were magically summoned out of nowhere and placed in front of the wooden desk. King Mickey leaped backwards into the chair on the farthest right after Riku had done the same with the one on the left. So, with a desire to rest my feet after ascending the stairs in the tower, I dove for the seat between them.

"You wish to hear of Aqua's whereabouts, correct?"

_"Didn't you guys just say that, like, a second ago?" _my other half piped a question.

When the wizard was met with awkward silence, which repeated exactly what Roxas had said, he gave a lengthy speech about the very last time he had been in the presence of the girl. After experiencing the horrible battle with Master Xehanort and the downfall of the first of her two best friends, Aqua was brought to the tower for some time to pause and think, thanks to the kind heart of the King, who had journeyed out to find them. Master Yen Sid expressed the pain he had felt apparent in her during this visit with a frown. The room became suddenly still after that as we basked in all of our imaginations of what it must have been like for the poor Keyblade Wielder. I knew for a fact that I, at least, could sense a trickle of pity within the confines of my chest at this mention. Probably because during my first adventure, Kairi had been in a comatose state like Ven and  
Riku had been ensnared by darkness, following the same path Terra had traversed.

"I do not know of Aqua's location as of now," the elderly sorcerer admitted. Raising our eyes up from the ground, all three of us gave him a look of disappointment.

Yen Sid shook his head, "But, I have quite a good guess as to where she might reside. Let me warn you three, though, where Aqua is might not be the greatest of places for travel."

"We don't care, Master Yen Sid." I stressed with a determined expression on my face. "We'll go anywhere."

"The Realm of Darkness."

My eyesight, and most likely the rest of the people in the room's gazes, settled gently on the Riku's teal irises, shooting off spouts of curiosity as to why he had spoken so abruptly. Confidence seeped out of every fiber the young man owned, completely oblivious to the questioning stares everyone was giving him. Either that, or he just didn't care. Something about him was totally different from the friend I knew at that moment, though. Was there some secret he was hiding? Had he met the Keyblade Master while he and the King journeyed through the dark world?

He tilted his head upwards and sideways to look at me. "I just have this feeling that she's there."

"But Riku," I paused. "How would we even get there? You can't just take a Gummi Ship and just walk right in; you have to open the door to Kingdom Hearts-which we would never do, since it would wreak havoc everywhere."

"Not if you have the right materials to do so."

A creak erupted from the Master's tall throne, followed by the quick disappearance of the blue-robed wizard behind the door to the right of our chairs. Soon, he came back out with a glorious silver box about the length of a postcard and height of an unused pencil resting on the eraser. The metallic sheen danced with lights in the flickering of the candles surrounding us, allowing a path to form from one end of the lid to the other. There sat two sculptures on the opposing corners; a pair of five pointed stars that sat against a mix of smaller stars and ivy. On the bottom, preventing the case from touching his wrinkled hands below, were four thick and short pedestals. The rounded top of the container was completely plain, just like the front. Though, there was _one _different thing about the side facing us all compared to the other three sides; a small obsidian keyhole. Before we could ask the wise elder what exactly the box contained, it flew from his hands and landed softly in my lap, making a clicking noise before opening.

What lay inside brought great wonder to pound in the deepest reaches of my heart.

It sat there on the bed of dove white plush, creating indents in the box's bottom from its five chubby arms. A sapphire hue glinted off of the glass object, containing a streak of gold and lime colored lightning within. This "lightning", as I called it, zigzagged from the center and outwards, eventually finding its way into the air cushioning the star. An excited grin making its way to my face, I plucked the fragment from the box and held it between my thumb and forefinger.

While continuing an examination of the sparkling star, King Mickey yelped out, "That's the Star Shard I had back when I was just an apprentice!"

"You mean the Star Shard you _stole _when you were my student?" Master Yen Sid raised an eyebrow.

The King answered with nothing but silence. The sorcerer just sighed and continued, "That just means you know how to use it, correct?"

"Yep."

"Hey, lemme see it." Riku tugged the blue object out of my fingers to inspect it himself. Annoyed, I leaned over to take it out of his hands while a conversation sparked between the teacher and pupil. His height proved useful when trying to get it away from me; as I got out of the chair and jumped in front of him, Riku stood and held it high, the Star Shard glimmering above a mischievous smile.

"Yes, Master, we will-"

"Give it back!" I yelped at the silver haired boy, who was now cackling at my futile attempts to jump up and snatch it away from him.

Riku only sneered. "I just want to get a good look at it. You don't have to be so selfish, Sora."

"Do you plan to save the other-"

"I'm _not _selfish!"

"Yeah, you kinda are."

"Am not!"

"You wanna bet? Remember that time when we were little kids and your Dad spent all that time making those wooden swords for us? You got mad just because mine was only, like, an inch longer."

"Pffft," I scowled at him, reaching through a tangle of silver hair and strong arms to get the blue glass shard back. "I don't remember that."

"_I_ do."

The King beside us continued to ignore our scuffle. "Okay, we'll be back soon. We'll just need to be gettin'-"

"Argghhh!"

"Back off, kiddo." his palm planted itself onto my face. "Let the grown-ups handle this."

I dug my fingernails into the hand that was now obscuring my vision, pushing it away. Riku grimaced and gave out a grunt of pain from how they dug into his skin. Then, I kicked both his shins (after making sure that I used my heels instead of the blunt, front edges of my shoes). The teasing boy finally gave way, allowing the shard to drop into my hands.

"Give it _here_." Master Yen Sid put out his hand with a stern face. I sighed and plopped the Star Shard into the outstretched palm.

"Anyways," he gave both of us a cold glare that cracked my embarrassed smirk in half, turning it into a scared frown. "You two are going to need clothing more appropriate for the journey ahead. The three fairies in the other room agreed to once again create outfits for you. And Riku too, of course."

We both glanced at each other jubilantly, forgetting about our fight that had only occurred like... two minutes before, was it? Finally, I was going to get new clothing for the first time in a whole _year_. Not that I didn't like the previous set, but I was glad that I was getting a change, for once. A thousand different ideas flashed on the dark screens of my eyelids; an onyx shirt smothered with a white jacket, which had two pockets on the front displaying my crown symbol, leading down into black pants absolutely smothered with red straps and belts. Or maybe an open, crimson vest adorned with silver crowns, with a pair of light blue jeans and shoes that kind of looked like Riku's.

"_You have a really weird sense of style, Sora." _Roxas cackled in mockery.

I completely ignored him and brushed my fingertips on my chin and looked upwards as more great outfits popped into my head. A lot of them were strange, a few wonderful, and maybe two or three that made me want to vomit. But I had a couple of ideas that would work well.

"We're going in, now, Sora." Riku called across the room as the door to the fairies slammed closed. I jolted into the present with a mixture of confused expression, a thumping heart, and powerful enthusiasm. Instantly, my legs unfolded themselves and I began to walk over to the awaiting door. But something stopped me dead in my tracks.

A cold hand rested itself on my shoulder, fingers of ice trailing over my collarbone. Though their tips only met halfway down my chest, the sensation of a chilling grasp seared through skin, flesh, and bone to pierce my soul. This was oddly familiar. Something like this moment had happened before. My teeth gritted inside of a trembling pair of lips, because I knew that remembering this deja-vu's origin was not going to bring me much joy.

Shivering almost violently, I met another duo of irises with my own. Horror clawed its dark fingers into my chest in an attempt to rip out every thread of bravery I had left. In an act of fear, I glanced downwards to my feet to save me from experiencing anymore of their great emotion. What I had seen in Yen Sid's tower that night still gives me that same feeling it had when I was actually there; a kind of heart-pounding, terror-stricken emotion, if you will. Though it caused me much self-convincing to do so, my eyes once again flitted upwards to meet his.

It was almost painful, having those amber irises tearing the scab away on that scar of a memory; I remembered that they were exactly the same glimmering orange they had been in the dream before I was whisked away on this journey. But unlike the irises I recalled, their impression gave me not only an image of hatred, but also a dash of warmth. In the dream, though, regret and anger had only been from the one blue eye and one orange eye. Now, both of his eyes were amber and conveyed different things. What had caused them to change?

As if hearing my thoughts of confusion, the figure lifted his dark haired head upwards to increase our distance and laugh. No reply came from me, causing a raised, brown eyebrow to skyrocket and a warm grin to lift his cheeks. This confused me even more; the emotion within his eyes was totally different from what his expression displayed.

_"Where have you been all this time? We're getting tired of waiting for you, you know?"_

His voice had been deeper than I would've thought; his appearance seemed to be that of a boy not a day over seventeen. A strong jaw lay at the bottom of his thin face, making the first step of a ladder that followed a large nose and almond shaped eyes. Brunette spikes were apparent on the head of this enigmatic figure. Not the same color as mine, though, but a bit darker. One was smoothed from his forehead and jutted out at the top. A few lined the sides of his face, and there were many others that fanned from the back. When your eyes met the middle of his skull, his hair was left to trail downwards and end at the base of his neck.

Another smirk appeared before he continued, _"Well, hurry up and get going. I'm not just gonna sit here forever in this dark world."_

"W-w-what?"

"You'd better go and meet the three fairies, young man. I assume they'll want to see you again after all this time."

Master Yen Sid's bulged eyes appeared, the teenager's face melting away in the process. When I came back to my senses, I realized that it had been the old wizard clutching my shoulder, not the man with the amber eyes and brown hair.

"Yeah," I said, shaking my head slowly to clear the confusion away. "See ya."

* * *

Riku's aquamarine irises glistened with joy; he had been scanning them over his brand new clothes for at least ten minutes now. Obviously, he was glad that the outfit had been to his liking. I stood there with my old suit still on, watching in annoyance as he let out an excited, "A-ha-ha-ha!" every five seconds. In truth, this behavior actually dazzled me. I'd never seen the boy express his happiness like that before.

Midnight blue colored, stretchy material encased his whole top half in a long sleeved shirt that showcased his wide "range" of muscles, making me feel a prickle of jealousy for the guy. A black vest the same shade as shadows smothered the top of this shirt, displaying a variety of silver belts and straps. This vest went down as far as his hips, and then was cut off in a straight, horizontal line. Sky blue and white, a handkerchief was tucked around the back of his neck and was left to be loose in the front. Where his first layer of clothing ended, at the base of his wrists, were a pair of skin-tight, fingerless, cuffed white gloves that were plain and had only a few onyx, u-shaped markings where his knuckles were. The cuffed part began at his wrist, tightened by a black strap, and led out for about an inch. The pair of pants to go with the outfit were jeans like he had been wearing last time, except they weren't quite as baggy. A gray hue colored these, creating a great combination with the silver zippers on his pockets and middle thighs. Black and white shoes encased his feet, and were designed almost exactly like his gloves, with obsidian designs and a white background. Instead of being "balloony", like mine were, his were tighter around the feet and looked more like normal shoes. Basically, that was it. Well, except for the weird piece of armor on his shoulder; the metal was separated by many sections, all being symmetrical to each other. In the main part on his left shoulder, there was a dark purple circle surrounded with another that was black. But the black piece had two other things behind it; they resembled bull's horns the color of silver, coming off of the armor entirely and sticking out on their own. Many layers of armor patterned with this scheme of silver and obsidian led down his arm until they hit his elbow, each one getting smaller than the others previous.

"Wow, this is the coolest clothing I could've wished for...I mean, not that I was really expecting anything because I didn't really want any new outfits in the first place." Riku crossed his arms and closed his eyes defiantly as to not let anyone know how impressed he actually was.

I scooted over in front of the fairies, pushing the ungrateful boy away in order to get my own clothes. He squealed a, "What was that for?", before heading over to the King and conversing with him.

"Are you ready, my dear?" Flora asked in a gentle tone, getting her wand ready at the same time.

"Yes, and thank you, ma'am." I nodded with appreciation.

One...two...three; in unison, the sisters nodded and raised their wands, flicking their wrists and shooting a spell intertwined with green, blue, and red at me. A twinkling noise sounded when the magic hit the center of my chest, and everything around myself started to glow with a bright light. Soon, I had to close my eyes because the shining light was too much for them to handle. When the brightness eroded away, I was left to stand there in shock at what I was wearing. And I'll tell you right now, it was _way _better than what Riku had gotten.

Not unlike the other set of clothing the three fairies had just created, there was a stretchy v-neck shirt acting as the very first layer. But instead of going all the way down to my wrists, its black sleeves ended at the middle of my upper arm. A jacket with material heavier than cotton, but lighter than leather, shone with a color the similar to my eyes and was outlined with silver. But because the sleeves of the jacket were short, the black t-shirt's sleeves stuck out underneath and about two inches were showing. The neck of this jacket owned a high cuff, and owned no hood, making it feel a little different than in the past. Replacing Riku's straight and horizontal design, mine was shorter in the front and angled diagonally to be longer in the back. That, and it didn't end at my hips in the front, either.

Just like my friend, I also had armor on my left shoulder. It was the same design and everything, but mine didn't have the "horns", nor went to my elbow. Instead, the metal ended at my middle arm with only four layers of armor under the large black circle. But unlike Riku's, the shape of the pieces below the circle were very strange; jutting out downwards, then curving inwards for them to meet at a sharp point. They were not silver and black, either, being quite different with their gold and bronze colors. My trademark symbol, a silver crown, existed as a piece of armor that sat on _top _of the black circle; it was not marked _into _the onyx, but actually stuck out, leaving me quite entertained with the thought of how it even stayed on there. A crimson strap about the thickness of my pointer finger, tip to knuckle, was attached to the inside of my pants in the back, and twisted around my waist and chest to end up being buckled to the armor, which let a little bit of it to stick out of my jacket and not be totally concealed.

My pants were the same shape and length my other pair had been, existing with a creamy white color instead of black. Pockets were apparent on the waistline, as well. Two obsidian straps that looked identical to the red one on my chest, were buckled tightly on the highest part of the front of my pants, each one sagging enough to end just above the back of my knees, and curving upwards again to be at the top of my rear. The duo criss-crossed in the back, but the "X" shape did not hug me tightly and instead was loose and left to fly freely at the lowest point.

Loosely wrapped around my legs about three fourths of the way down were two matching black pockets, held there by, yet again, black straps with silver buckles. For the last and final time, there were two _more _charcoal belts cinching my pants to my leg at their bottoms. I know that sounds weird, but think of it like balloons with a string tied around the lip of the latex, making sure air doesn't escape. Well, my pants didn't really resemble balloons, but you get the point.

The one unique thing about this whole get-up were the pure white bandages on my wrists. They hid under my gray, black-cuffed, fingerless gloves for the most part, but they also appeared on the outside and ended at the middle of my lower arms. And I'm not talking loose bandages here, I'm talking _skin-tight_, similar to mummy bandages. There was also another wrapping of the white material on my right leg, but not my left for some reason, totaling three in all.

My shoes were...well, they weren't as big as I thought they were going to be. I mean, that was one of my signature things, having huge shoes. But these were more like blocks with a "bump" at the end. In style, they resembled high-tops a bit. A medium blue color similar to my vest's was the main hue you could make out. But the bottoms were ribbed with silver, the tongues were white and rounded with gold crown symbols on them, and the top and front sides were white rubber, the piece on the top of my foot bumping upwards a bit before going back down and ending where my toes started. White laces lined the top of my shoes horizontally.

For being a confusing jumble of straps, bandages, pockets, and armor, I'd have to say I was pretty impressed with how it turned out. Not only did the outfit beat the clothing I had worn on my first adventure out of the park, but it practically made my second look like the rags you'd find hanging out of a mechanic's back pocket. It was totally awesome compared to Riku's as well, scoring it a few bonus points. I'd expected it to be pretty much just like the first I had gotten from the fairies, but I was _wrong._

* * *

King Mickey held the glowing blue shard in front of our three bodies. Faces composed of awe and admiration lay in the room around us, belonging to Merryweather, Fauna, Flora, and Master Yen Sid. Radiating a sapphire aura, the brightness of the object outshone the meek light of the candles around us, casting eerie shadows upon our features. Previously, Yen Sid had cast many spells on us for protection against the great darkness of the realm. Though, he warned that it would only grant a shield for beings of shadow, leaving us vulnerable for darkness to touch our hearts. The Realm of Darkness _was _a dangerous place for creatures of Light, after all.

I cleared my throat and glanced at the King a few times, "So, what exactly does this do?"

"Welp, you'll be seeing right about...now."

In exactly one moment, the whole area was transformed into a spinning vortex of electric blue light and sparkling white stars. I had to squint my eyes to even see anything, but when I did, I realized that Riku was tumbling head-over-heels in front of me in the empty space while the King was still clutching the star fragment for dear life. To be flying in that tunnel in such a dizzying speed made my stomach churn. But I gulped back down the thought and focused on making sure I didn't get too far away from the other two. In that silence, I could hear a faint twinkling noise, almost like a cascade of shattered glass meeting a hard floor. It instantly shut down all of my brain's functions to sense that strange music; almost as if I was teetering on the edge of sleep while still being half-awake. Cold air rushed about my skin, the cooling sensation very soothing after being stuck in that stuffy tower for an hour. In truth, I had been trying to fight against the vortex's force, but my arms grew weak after holding them up that long in what seemed to be the winds of a tornado. So, I let them fall to my sides and enjoyed the rest of the vibrant ride.

A horde of wet sand and grit shoveled into my mouth as my body hit solid earth. Disgusted, I tried my best to shove it all out before scraping myself off of whatever I had landed on.

Where was I? That was the question I had kept asking myself that whole time. We were meant to be going to the Realm of Darkness, but no part of it that _I'd _seen had a beach.

When I raised my sore body off of the ground, I found myself dropping my jaw in shock.

The area was a dark cove lit dimly by a far-off glimmer of light. Black rocks and crags were apparent everywhere, all sitting in the gloomy, thick mist that lay low on the beach. Soft sand made up most of the place besides the boulders, and acted as a border between me and the clawing tides reaching in and out at the shoreline.

I must have seen this place before, I kept thinking, because there was something familiar about it; but the only place I'd experienced in the dark realm was that bea...

The only place I'd seen_ was_ the beach.

_Of course! This was where Riku and I landed after defeating Xemnas. How could I have forgotten? _

But...there _was _something different about it. And that one thing was sitting in front of me on top of one of the boulders.

She sat there with her long legs crossed, her hands intertwined together in a heap on her lap. I could not make out what her whole body looked like in the little light the Dark Meridian had to offer, but the one characteristic I noticed was the girl's short, _blue _hair.

Obviously, she had not noticed that I had arrived on the beach, which was surprising since I had practically crashed into the sand behind her seat. Or, she just didn't care; head cocked to the side, the woman gave out a small sigh and contemplated the shining crests of the waves, twining one of her fingers with a strand of hair.

I got the idea to strike up a conversation with her, to see if she either knew Aqua or had seen Riku and the King.

"Sorry, if I startled you when I came here," I chuckled, walking around to her right side while rubbing my brown spikes. "But, I was wondering if you know anyone named Aqua, or have seen a tall guy with silver hair and a mouse."

Her cobalt eyes widened in fear. After turning to me, I recognized an expression of pure terror outlining her cheeks.

Startled, I quickly retaliated by smiling sweetly, "What's your name, by the way? Mine's-"

The girl with blue eyes and matching hair left me in the dust. Interrupting my introduction, she had gotten up and began to run away in sheer fright.

_"I guess people of the Dark Realm aren't all that social," _my other half assumed with a nervous laugh afterwards.

_I'm not going to let her get away,_ I vowed silently, noting the exit she had taken. _She must know something about Aqua or knows where Riku and the King are._

And with that, I crashed through rocks and sand over to where the mysterious woman had left. After that, it was basically just following footprints and the trill of heavy pants and coughing; obviously, she had begun to grow tired after our game of cops and robbers.

"Come back! I just want to ask you some questions!"

It didn't work. Not to mention, the loud sounds she had been making did not ring through the darkness anymore, nor did the line of footprints continue on. At that point, I was stumbling through a copse of ancient, eerily creaking trees with fingers resembling the claws of Heartless. But instead of being a normal dark brown color, like dead plants in the Realm of Light, they were purple with crimson markings all over them. Silence was only met by my sputtering and heavy breathing, for no birds' calls or wind echoed through this dark forest.

With the small hope of the girl still being able to hear me, I managed to speak through my gasping.

"Please," I paused to breathe again. "I don't want to hurt you..."

Freezing cold metal was pressed to my neck, the silver rod of the blade trembling ever so slightly against the beating of the artery in my throat. I threw up my hands to attempt pulling the tight constraint away from me. But it failed; whoever the owner of this weapon was, was not ready to let their prey escape.

I begged desperately, "Let me go, please! I never was going to hurt anyone. I'm looking for someone and I was wondering if-"

"Say no more, little _boy_. I don't have any answers to your questions. And even if I did, what makes you think I would tell them to you?"

"Please..." the blade was now preventing any air from reaching my lungs, forcing my voice to scratch and muffle.

A cold thrumming of laughter erupted from her throat.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure that the end of your life is _quick_ and _painless."_

Had I died? Or did I just black out from lack of air? All I knew at the time was that the starless sky my eyes had been resting upon faded away like a dream as consciousness slipped out from under my grasp. And, that the weapon that had caused me to do so was very peculiarly shaped like a large key.

_A Keyblade..._

~AUTHOR'S NOTE~

Man, sorry that this was such a long chapter! I haven't updated in a long time (got a new laptop, I did), so I thought that it would be better to make the chapter a bit longer. So, you're probably wondering who this mystery attacker is? Well, you'll just have to read the next chapter and find out yourselves(some of you can probably easily guess since I'm bad at not making it obvious). REVIEW, PLEASE, MY READERS! YOU ARE THE LIFE OF THIS STORY! I NEED YOU! Anyways, I apologize if the description for Sora and Riku's new outifts are hard to picture. I made up Riku's while my sister made Sora's while trying to keep up an image of something that Nomura would actually make, so of course there are going to be about a thousand belts and straps and big shoes, if that's the case. MANY THANKS GOES TO HOWLINGWOLF94, PIXARFAN, UMINEKOKINGDOMHEARTSFAN, AND CCSAKURA21 FOR REVIEWING SINCE THE LAST UPDATE. I really appreciate it, you guys! Thank you so much! Anyways, look forward to the next chapter, my friends, and please continue favoriting, reading, and reviewing my story! It's a great feeling to see so many loyal readers of my story, and an even better feeling when I see an UPDATE SOON, or a GREAT STORY. Even if it's one word, just send me a review. And, you know what's even better? CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Don't be afraid to tell me if something Sora said is cheesy or out of character, or if Yen Sid's eye aren't actually all that bulgy. Go on ahead and tell me.

The writer of Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect,

~Eternal Symphonia~


	5. 1:1:5 Beyond Mirrors and Doors

Kingdom Hearts 3:Reconnect~1.1.5~Sora's Story, Book 1, Chapter 5~Beyond Mirrors and Doors~

Disclaimer:  
Sora: "Eternal Symphonia is busy right now, so she asked me to give the disclaimer for today. So, I guess..." (**glances at messy scrawl on sheet given by the author)**

Sora: "I guess we don't own anything? I mean, I'm owned by Disney and Square-Enix and NOT Eternal Symphonia."

Eternal Symphonia: "Among the other characters in this story."

Riku: "Wait a second...isn't that illegal? It's not like we're property, or anything. What are they thinking?"

Goofy: "A-hyuck! I don't really think that's fair. Don'tcha think so too?"

Donald: "When do you _ever _think?"

King Mickey: "Now, now, fellas. When you think about it, _I _own Disney. Without me, Disney would be nothin'."

Sora: "So does that mean that you technically own us, your Majesty? Because if you own Disney, and then Disney owns us, then that means that we're your property."

Mystery Figure in the Black Cloak from previous chapter: "I don't belong anywhere..."

Sora: "Hey, author, who's this guy? He's seems kind of emo. Like Roxas emo, you know?"

Roxas: "I am _not _emo!"

Aqua: "Who owns Square-Enix, then? And whoever owns Square-Enix technically owns us, like the King. But then...who _truly _owns us?"

Donald: "This is really confusing..."

Sora: "So, whoever owns us is the person who owns Square-Enix and Disney, so that'd actually be the King and that weird Nomura guy. But then does that mean that Nomura owns the King too? And then who owns the King if it's not Disney? And who owns me? Then, whoever owns the King also owns Disney, Square-Enix, and us?"

Riku: "I am _so _lost."

* * *

Silver metal gleamed in the dim radiance of light settled off in the distance, far beyond the reaches of the shore the three wielders stood upon. Rapidly spinning, the blade swept through the air like a knife through butter. It eventually curved back and stabbed the center of the towering Heartless' chest. The monster threw its obsidian fists downwards and lifted its head to the skies, calling out in rage and fury to the one who had brought this fate to its doorstep. This screech sent two of the fighters stumbling backwards. But the third, who actually was the owner of the platinum weapon, stood her ground and bared a delighted smirk at this. And what impressed her small audience even more was how gracefully she had caught her blade as it came flying back; a jump up and a cartwheel in midair, grasping a hold on the handle, and sending sand flying once allowing her feet to meet the Earth again.

After the last remnants of the shadow creature had entirely dissipated, a few more sprouted up in its place. Three, to be exact, and the trio each went after the one closest and started to hack away.

The first of the three was a small warrior with round ears and a sleek, black tail, owning a sword that was blue and adorned with countless golden stars. His target had just sent its thick arm flying towards the mouse, but it was easily evaded; he sensed that it was coming out of the corner of his eye. He leaped up, spinning like a tornado. Once the Heartless passed by, he began initiating a fire spell. Amazingly, it danced around as he twirled, the balls of flame spreading farther and farther apart until they met their mark.

A silver haired wielder was also among these three, and tackling a creature even bigger than the other two's. In his right palm was a weapon that mostly resembled the crimson and black wing of a demon, contrasting with the platinum angel's wing sprouting from the top. With a hand held out in front of him and the other with the key drawn back, he charged forward with inhuman speed. A tendril of darkness slipped past him. Then a fist had almost came crashing down on the boy. But despite these obstacles, he managed to make it to the foot of his foe and started slashing back and forth, up and down, side to side, wearing down it down until it could stand no longer.

She almost had gotten thrown into the air when the silver haired boy's Heartless had fallen face down to the ground, the mighty weight against the sand causing the Earth to tremble. But nonetheless, the experienced warrior had found her footing again in no time. With the thrill of adrenaline pounding through her veins, she took her weapon, a silver key with an "E" shaped set of teeth and a boxy appearance, and raised it high above. Strength quickly shot from her heart and into the blade, and in no time, she was casting spells left and right. Lightning bolts flared up within the darkness. Ice crystals shot from the tip of the key and left devastating holes through the chest of the shadow giant. Wind barreled towards the creature and sent it stumbling. And to finish it all off, she could feel herself rising from the ground and energy gathering within. Like a bucket that had been left under running water for far too long, she could sense it starting to overflow. But the girl held on and allowed it to grow.

And in the midst of this gruesome face-off, set far behind the three accomplished fighters, was a brunette boy of the age of sixteen, slumbering peacefully and paying no heed to the cries of battle erupting in the world around him.

"How are you doing over there!" the silver-haired one called over to the mouse, watching as he guarded a blow from his Heartless.

Quickly retaliating from a defensive position, the small King thrust his weapon upwards and sliced his opponent's wrist. Darkness spilled out from the handless creature's fresh wound like thick, purple blood.

As the monster faded away into nothing, the King chuckled and gave a grin over to his friend, "Welp, I'm doing better than I was before."

Riku's Heartless, now laying face down in the darkness, roared to the heavens above at his enemy, giving a cold, yellow glare at the boy. But it didn't frighten the boy one bit. He walked carefully over to the monster. Then stumbled onto its massive back. Finally, he raised Way to the Dawn high above, the sharp tip pointing downwards.

"This ends _now_."

Metal met flesh in this moment. Shadows spurted up into the air, some of it brushing against the cheek of the young warrior as the fiend disappeared. A stoic, emotionless expression was carved into his face. He jumped off of the shadow, dragging his weapon in the sand behind him.

A burst of light shining in all of the seven colors of the rainbow appeared at the very end of her Keyblade. The blinding power of the move forced the Heartless to cower back in fear, a hand drawn over its face. Suddenly, it broke up into a million little pieces, like glass after being struck by a bullet, and the balls of multicolored energy homed in on her target; they relentlessly barraged the creature for a few minutes. But by the time they all faded away, it had been nothing more than a pillar of dark flames and shadows.

Noticing that Mickey was grinning with a triumphant look on his face and Riku's eyebrows had raised and jaw dropped, she humbly bowed her head down after touching the ground and hid behind a veil of blue hair. Obviously, she was embarrassed that such an easy spell, which she named, "Prism Rain", had caused so much awe and attention to pool up within her hands.

"How..." Riku began, but trailed off after Aqua gave him a rosy cheeked smile.

"It's something that all Keyblade Masters should be able to do. You've never seen it before?"

She was met with a confused expression.

_I guess not..._Aqua thought within the silence.

Without any words passed between the three, they all walked over to the round faced youth sleeping quietly next to the smoldering, ember filled, black pit that had previously housed a small bonfire. But it had gone out, they remembered, when the three Darksides intruded on their conversation, in which Aqua explained everything, from entering the Realm of Darkness to drawing her blade onto Sora's trembling throat.

_"It was dark, and I could not see very well. That, and my once clear judgment had been clouded by the taint of this world; I could no longer see the truth. Almost every creature I had come upon desired only to rip my heart out of my chest, so I treated this boy the same."_

_"But what made you think our friend was goin' to hurt you?"_

_"Yeah. No offense to him, or anything, but Sora doesn't look like he'd give anyone trouble. Even a blind person could tell that.."_

_"I __was__ blind. And, I apologize. This boy meant no harm when he came, and I truly do feel horrible about it."_

_"Try telling that to__ him__."_

_The three glanced down at the unconscious child with closed eyes and a faint breath, all thinking different things about their situation as of now. While the King wondered when he should pull out the Star Shard and get the four of them out of there, Riku hoped dearly that Sora wouldn't be too scarred about being almost choked to death, given his sensitive person. But Aqua was remembering something quite different; how the boy looked so similar to her long lost friend, the one with blond hair and sparkling blue eyes filled with light. From what she recalled from when she first saw this child, his irises also gave off that bright glow that announced the presence of a kind heart. Not just that, but the fact that his name was Sora, the title of a savior the man with the dark cloak had given when they conversed for the first time on this beach._

In the present, Sora drew back his lips in a snarl, grimacing in disgust at something within his dream, the out of place, thin scar on his face distorting from the expression's appearance. This gave the girl a reason to smile; something that did not occur often within the darkness. And soon her heart began to race, for his eyelids peeled back to reveal the sapphire, beautiful depths that were his irises.

Riku jumped back, stumbling in the sand, startled that his friend had woken so suddenly, but the other two just chuckled at the look Sora was giving them; his face made it seem as if he were thinking, _"I just knew that eating all that candy before bedtime was a bad idea; what kind of horrible, twisted dream is __this__?"._

* * *

_Push, pull...Push, pull...Push, pull...Crackle! Snap! Push, pull..._

Waves gnawed a quiet, humming path into my awareness, pulling me from the dimension of silent darkness that had haunted my unconscious mind. Everything was blurring into focus at that moment. And soon, my eyes were met only by a mural of blank sky, shining with absolutely no stars.

It felt as if someone had taken a box of nails and hammered them into my skull, for when I came back into the presence with complete awareness, my head began to throb. So much that I couldn't help but groan, grasping its back with a tensed set of fingers.

"He's finally awake." I heard someone whisper.

"Took him long enough. He's always been such a bum, just sleeping the day away. You couldn't even to get the kid to move if you threatened to burn his house down."

I knew instantly that the owner of the second comment must have been Riku. So, without even opening my eyes again to look at him, I rubbed my forehead with a grimace and replied, "Like _you've _never slept in before."

Everyone surrounding me just peered at the teenage boy rising from the sand, almost zombie-like, with a pair of bright blue eyes twinkling with humor. To my left, there was a pitiful stack of sticks barely even burning, hissing and spitting. A silver haired young man sat cross-legged on the other side, the fire's light dancing across his features. King Mickey had his fists pooled up in his lap, twiddling the thumbs together thoughtfully. But...and this was the weird part...there was a third person, legs outstretched in front of her, gazing deeply at me with cobalt blue irises. At first her image was kind of fuzzy. Then, bit by bit, everything about the girl fizzled in, almost like a mist had been cleared.

Horror took a stake and thrust the wooden point into my heart. That same curved figure, and that oval face...not to mention those piercing blue eyes.

All of the sudden, a memory flickered within my mind's eye.

_Freezing cold metal was pressed to my neck, the silver rod of the blade trembling ever so slightly against the beating of the artery in my throat. I threw up my hands to attempt pulling the tight constraint away from me. But it failed; whoever the owner of this weapon was, was not ready to let their prey escape._

Her smooth, long legs, originally crossed over each other in a relaxed twine, drew back as she recognized an expression that did the screaming for me. Eyebrows furrowed, mouth ajar, and delicate fingers tensed, the woman gawked when I jumped up and stumbled backwards. A really bad idea, might I add, when there's a pit of smoldering flame, however pitiful, behind you.

I'm actually embarrassed to admit this now, but at that moment, after planting my rear in the fire, I screamed out to the heavens. But it wasn't just a light yelp of pain. A high-pitched squeal, which should have belonged to a two year old girl, ricocheted in the air and rang in all of our heads. Riku cackled at my expense. The King squeaked and ran forward to help pull me out. Hands flailing, the girl bolted over with a look of pure horror.

Though his Majesty's help was appreciated, by the time him and my assassin were present, I had already been up and jumping around, slapping my rear in an attempt to pat out the flames.

I squealed. I screamed. The flame behind me rose higher. Riku stopped laughing and realized how serious this was, and began to follow my zigzagged path along with the other two. The taint of smoke burnt my nose hairs. The waves continued to pull at the shore. Wind stirred through the hollow. The King kept squeaking on in terror.

And the funniest part about this whole thing was how I could only think about my new outfit. And how I had just gotten it. And how it was smoldering. And how embarrassing this was.

But then it stopped.

And I was absolutely drenched with freezing water; her arms were outstretched, pointing at me with hands softly glowing. Obviously, she had shot a water spell or something at me.

My clothes clung to my skin and wet sand clung to the inside reaches of my shoes. The feeling of sore, burned skin rested on my rear. Empty silence nestled in all our ears, adding more to the cluttered pile within my heart, properly titled, "_Sora's Humilation._"

"A-are you...all right?" a feminine voice dove into the awkward emptiness, a concerned tone carrying the sound. The girl. It must have been the blue-haired girl. She had been standing behind me previously along with the King and Riku. But then five fingers slipped over my hunched left shoulder. I flipped around, feet set wide apart, a raised eyebrow perched on my forehead, aware of the cold breeze blowing through the hole in my pants, all at the same time.

Her expression was one of pure worry, which blended bedazzlement and puzzlement into one gross, thick, cold, sloshing smoothie within my chest. A little boy tugged on my thoughts, begging me to back off farther. Then, a mature young man pulled on the opposite reaches of my mind, insisting that I hold my ground and show no fear.

When I didn't respond, she straightened her previously cocked head and her hands started to glow with a lime colored aura. I knew this was probably a cure spell. Why would she heal me, though? What I assumed to be a few hours ago, the girl had jumped me with a Keyblade in tow.

"Whoa, hold on a second here!" I yelped after she tried to aim the spell at my...well, you know. That was _extremely _awkward and uncomfortable. I covered my bare boxers in the back with my hands.

"It's okay," she paused to smile sweetly. "I'm really experienced with magic, and I guess you could say it's my fault in the first place."

_"Well, at least she's trying to be friendly." _Roxas interrupted.

_There's no way I'm going to let some crazed hag cast a cure spell on my-"_

Pain, previously clinging to me like super glue, faded away instantly. She had done it. The girl just cast cure on my inflicted spot and magically repaired the hole in the pants. I grit my teeth, trying not to laugh and hold back anger at the same time. Red flickered on the sides of my mouth, embarrassment burning my skin more intensely than real flames.

Her lips pursed. "See?"

Rocks, waves, sand, my shoes... Was there anything I could look at that wasn't a trio of faces all marked with traces of a grin?

* * *

A screech pierced his eardrums as the door swung open with ease. Musty smells, similar to a mixture of wet earth and aged copper, wrapped around the man. Comforting it was, compared to the reek of darkness that drenched the hallways of this castle. He had only faintly sensed the taint of shadows within his nose a few times before. But those dark corridors were overpowered with it; the smell made him want to bend over and retch. What did this scent resemble, you ask? Well, in his opinion, it was like walking into a room filled with rotting human remains, spice, and blood. Quite a strange combination, actually.

Faint light spilled into the area he had just entered, shining through, yet again, a stained glass window brimming with beauty. Joy faintly flickered inside; was it really the rays of the Sun shining through that rectangular pane? If it was, then that just meant that it was the first time he had seen it in thirteen years. Like a moth drawn to a lantern, he soon bathed in its warmth with fingertips trembling against a lime section of the glass. The man peered upwards with a widened mouth and eyes, stricken with wonder at the picture it displayed.

A border of crimson and purple triangles sat on the outermost edges. Beyond their colors were a starry night sky holding a heart-shaped moon in its grasp. The bottom, which was his favorite part for some reason, was a knight holding a long, silver sword, trying desperately to battle the evil creatures that opposed him.

He began to feel sorrow inside for the lone soldier, replacing his awe. The young man knew what it was like to face such odds with no one at your side, and, in fact, had been doing exactly so for many years. With a strange urge to rest, an icy sensation flared in his left cheek as he leaned it against the depiction.

_Where should I go next? I have no home to return to, nor anyone to guide me to where I'm headed. Well, at least I've never seen others within this castle._

As if expecting to see his prayers come true, he turned around and faced the emptiness. But that was just what it was; emptiness. Except for the door on the right side of this round room. He headed towards it without a second thought and opened the door. Within was a cluttered pile of clothing and armor that he recognized all too well along with a mirror sitting on the back wall. Terra held one of the garments, a black t-shirt made of stretchy material, in front of his sturdy body, surveying the massive amount of dust clinging to it.

Shock rippled through his heart.

_Wait, is that my name? Terra, was it? _He shook his head in silent embarrassment. _This darkness has really gotten to me._

_G_lancing at the shirt again, he wondered whether he should put it on, or just keep it hidden; in that outfit, he'd surely be easily spotted by anyone. And with the past that his unwanted puppet master had given both their names, he wasn't sure if that was a bad or a good thing. But the thought of having to wear that cloak of darkness for longer wasn't something that Terra wanted.

_I'll just put them on and keep the cloak, just in case I'll ever need it._

If you were to walk in this room at this point, you'd see a tall, muscular figure with bright blue eyes removing the dark coat and tossing it to the floor with disgust on his face. After, he pulled on the rest of it all with a melody of buttons snapping, zippers sliding, metal jostling, and a variety of impatient grunting. He surveyed himself in the mirror while bending over to pick up the very last part of his belongings; a golden insignia that glared in the light coming through the door. Terra scanned it over. Eventually his cheeks carried a small grin, memories of days long past flickering within.

_"Why even bother trying to fill a pathetic heart like __yours__ with such foolishness? You know you can never go back to those years. So why even yearn to remember them? We are one in the same, now, boy. Which means that you are not Terra. You are __Xehanort__."_

_I may not have many of my memories left, old man. But that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to fall for lies like that. _The young man tried to hide his surprise at Xehanort's return with a nonchalant tone. But what was the point? The elder was right; their heart was basically the same. So, he would be able to sense the blatantly obvious fear pounding through Terra's chest. With a hand held to his forehead, he tried to ignore the man's next words by staring at the mirror. But...it only brought more pain to ricochet in his temples when it wasn't his own reflection.

The golden symbol slipped out of his fingers like water, making a "plink" noise when its face met the grungy floor.

All he saw were shards of glass. All he could hear was silence. All he could smell was returning stench of darkness. All he could taste was the tingle of blood on his tongue. But everything he could feel was much; razor sharp edges grazing his cheeks, eyes burning, the carpet crushing under his fingers, head aching, body trembling, teeth grinding, heart pounding, tears racing.

"_That's right. Allow your fear, anger, and pain to blacken the reaches of your heart with darkness. Only then will you embrace true power. "_

Terra peered upwards to see if that horrible image would still appear in the mirror. But was surprised to see that it had shattered, some of it still intact. Of course, that must have been why shards of glass had littered the floor and scratched his face.

Cracks clawed into the profile of a young man on his knees. But his hair was not chestnut, nor his irises blue. Instead, just like it had been the first time the boy had looked into the pane, a veil of silver outlined his face, and two pools of amber glinted, replacing his eyes. Streams of darkness poured out of his back and chest. A menacing smirk sat below his nose.

_No, this isn't who I am. I'm not-_

_"Yes, you are."_

Terra began to panic, sputtering and gasping through tears and the heaving of his lungs as he cried. The darkness within his heart crept closer, drawing back, ready to pounce and overtake him. He couldn't let that happen. If he did, he probably would never see...

_"Tears? Why cry, dear boy? You're only returning something that belongs to me."_

_I'm losing it; I'm losing control again. _Another sob escaped his throat. _If I go under, then there will be nothing stopping him from..._

Suddenly, all the fear and sorrow dissipated, along with all thoughts of resisting the dark force within. He knew what was happening. And he couldn't stop it. There was nothing anyone could do.

All that was heard before Terra blacked out were the heinous cries of Xehanort's laughter, mocking him, gnawing at his sanity. Like a knife, it pierced his gut and twisted, tearing his hopes, dreams, and wishes in its path apart until there was nothing left to destroy. They shattered, not unlike the mirror standing before him.

Maybe there was still a chance to take those desires and rebuild them, along with gaining his freedom back; to pick up the pieces where they fell and continue following his own light.

_Who am I kidding? Xehanort's right. If I were to ever walk freely again, who would even help me? What would they see me as? A lost traveler? Or some kind of monster?_

_"Your heart once again belongs to the depths from which it came. And it would be best for a person like yourself to just stay there. Am I clear?"_

_I'll get out of here once more, you horrible, cowardly bastard! You can't keep me locked up forever._

The elder only chuckled into the quiet that followed. Which, was something that was more easily able to tear the boy's sanity in half than any other thing he might have said. And Xehanort knew that he'd have to keep a closer eye on the young man, for if he were to take control at the wrong moment, all his plans would fall apart.

But then an idea started to churn in that old brain of his. Its web began to attach to all parts of his mind, putting two and two together, filling his cold heart with absolute joy. All the while, his previous outfit had been replaced once again, instead being a pair of dark, baggy pants, black boots that went up to his knees, a tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt, and two long, onyx wristbands; the exact same clothing he had worn when he was an apprentice.

_"Threaten to harm his friends and that pathetic child of the Light. He'll panic and do whatever I say when I finally break their hearts in two. Then, you'll never have to struggle for control ever again! It's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that earlier? Besides, I was hoping to stab that one "hero" in the back anyways. Might just teach him a lesson about messing with powers that far surpass his own."_

Now in full control of the body, Xehanort rose from the ground with a sneer on his face. Disgust filled himself when the rest of the tears streaked past his chin. As if reaching into a pile of dung, he wiped them off and shivered.

_"I never thought that he'd be such a filthy crybaby."_

* * *

Only the sheer warmth of the umber color could slow the frost seeping through my limbs. It felt as if I were laying in a bank of soft snow, tired, freezing, hungry, and ready to give into hypothermia at any second. But there were no snowflakes, nor was the air even accompanied by the chill of winter. Instead, I was actually sitting in a humid and cramped, bustling kitchen with a plate of food standing untouched before me.

We were back on the Gaia. Well, with an extra person this time. I still didn't understand why King Mickey even wanted to bring her along; it seemed that only he knew who the girl was, and "forgot", or didn't want to tell us. All I knew was that we had been in the dark realm, picked up this murderer, burned my rear, left the darkness with the Star Shard, went back to Master Yen Sid's tower and got on the Gaia, and decided to fix something up quick for a dinner.

The King cleared his throat, attempting to gather the attention of all seated around the table, which was only himself, me, Riku, and that sapphire haired young woman whose name I still didn't know. All in that same order, I glanced at their expressions to see if any of them were feeling the same way I was. Riku, who was next to me, was staring out into space with a somber look on his face, as if in deep thought. The only female in the room had her hands folded in her lap and peered down at them. Eyebrows were uneven on the King's face, as if his attempt at trying to get everyone's attention wasn't working all that great.

Sighing at the other's failure to give His Majesty their eyes, I glanced up again and smiled, "Yes, your Highness?"

King Mickey jumped a little bit. But then he replied, "Welp, since we're all here and no one's touched their dinners yet," he paused to sniffle. "I thought I'd introduce everybody, because we never really had a chance to back in the Realm of Darkness."

Satisfaction flickered in my chest. We were finally going to figure out what that weird Keyblade Wielder's name really was. I tried to hide a grin, but it came out anyway. I hoped no one else at the table noticed.

With a gloved hand outstretched to the silver haired and silent boy at my left, the King introduced Riku to that girl sitting right across from me, saying stuff like, "Welp, this is Riku. He's nice, and he's a great friend of ours. Blah, blah, onto the next person.". I couldn't really tell because I had been too busy focusing on my opposing dinner mate. I didn't even make it stealthy, either. I just stared at her in wonder for a while, somewhat with hostility glinting within the glare.

Head bowed, she continued to shoot unblinking eyesight at her lap in concentration. She'd move every once in a while, but only to change what leg was crossed over the other.

"And this young man is Sora," the King nudged the woman and pointed at me. She glanced up for a second, trying her best not to meet my eyes. But I didn't let that girl get away that easily. And let me tell you, if my looks resembled what they were trying to portray, icicles would have been jutting out from my mouth and nostrils, snowflakes raining from my eyes, and skin shining in a dull, azure color. Hey, I wasn't going to be mean with my words, but I was just letting her know with my eyes that sneaking up behind me and threatening to take my life wasn't really something I appreciated.

It was right after that when doubt settled in one of my thought's many nooks and crannies. What if she had just been scared? What if she just had an impression that I was a Heartless, or something? Sure, in no way did I even look evil. But I couldn't blame her for being suspicious of everyone if she had been in the Realm of Darkness for a long time.

So, that was when my icy sneer of disgusted proportions melted away, pooling up in a puddle at my feet. All of it had escaped my being, but as if it actually were water, it still left a soggy, uncomfortable feeling.

"Now that everybody knows about you two, I wanna introduce you both to an old friend of mine."

My heart sank to my knees when I heard Mickey say those words. If you had tapped into my thoughts at that time, you would have heard a medley of, "Please.", "No.", "Don't let it be.", and, "Why me?".

"I know this'll probably give you a shock and all, but this is the one we've been looking for; this is Aqua, the last Keyblade Master alive."

That was when my heart almost catapulted out of my chest, did a flip, flew into the wall, and burst into flames.

Riku glanced around the room with arms crossed. The King did the same, but tried to meet our gazes, utterly failing. The supposed "Aqua" had that familiar look of wariness about her, apparently not wanting to see the crowd's reaction.

Me? Well, I'll start with the fact that my jaw almost hit the table. A pounding heartbeat erupted from this side of the table. The toes at the end of my feet curled, digging into their shoes. Basically, this was one of those times where I just wanted to go back to bed and forget that the whole day even happened. This girl...the one who I could've called a variety of things, was Aqua. She was Aqua. That girl was Aqua. This was Aqua. Sorry for the repeating, but when you're _that _shocked, you don't really care about how annoying your thoughts might be.

As if to release the flurry of thoughts within, like a cloud ready to unleash a blizzard of snow, her mouth parted, eyes fixated only on me. But were those cold words she meant to speak? Maybe so, for Aqua instantly snapped her lips shut and continued handing attention into my palms.

My mouth did the same before I spoke, as well, but I had the courage to continue on. "So, you're...you're the one we've been looking for? Aqua?"

"Yes."

I was surprised that she replied so quickly, shown by my puzzled face.

_If she attacked me because I had scared her, she might not be all as crazy as I thought. And if Riku and the King trust her, maybe there really is no reason to be afraid._

"Sorry I went an' told everybody who you were before you could even speak, Aqua. I thought that since it's been so long and all, you know, since you've been out of the Dark Realm, that you were a little startled and would appreciate some time to put everythin' back together." the King patted her on the shoulder with a warm smirk. For the absolute first time since I had seen her, she smiled. A genuine, gentle, and sweet smile. I also noticed that Aqua's eyes were glistening with a bright light, too. Instead of giving off a cooped up image, legs crossed and all, she now relaxed, chin resting on intertwined fingers and elbows on the table. Eyes jumped up to meet King Mickey's. "Thank you, your Majesty. You're heart is very kind. And, I appreciate that quality in people."

Very peculiarly, when she spoke those words, she glanced at me a few times. It wasn't as if to say, "_You're_ not anything like that.", but seemed more like Aqua was trying to tell me something. I know what it was now, of course, though, at the time I didn't. It was no matter that I didn't understand, because it gave me the same feeling it would have even if I did; a trickle of thought that led me to believe that...I actually was starting to like her. Not in a crush sense. But in a way someone would before they found the most precious friend in their life.

This same sensation licked at my heart once again when she finally paused glancing and just gave up, resting eyesight completely on me. I returned the gaze. And, I saw inside this girl. Memories, dreams, wishes, hopes, emotions, fears, desires. All of it. I wondered then if she could do the same to me.

Within, there were images of herself sitting on a ledge, next to two boys about her age, watching a starry night sky. Strangely, it was similar to a dream I had had a few days ago. I shook that thought off and continued my search.

Then another memory of hers came up: leaning over the face of frozen human being, sorrow and despair chilling her veins. Afterwards, a pressure suddenly alighted upon my throat, like fingers were wrapping around it. This pain was laid across yet another vision. It included feeling my feet raise off of the ground, arms wavering upwards to grab the strong wrist, desperate for the beautiful promise of tomorrow's chance to set things right. It all dissipated away under a black fog, replaced by thick, cold, disgusting hopelessness seeping into my heart, feeling sand crunch underneath my misguided steps. And searching. Searching quietly. Searching with little energy. Wanting to find the door out of this dreary night. As fast as these came, it all faded away like the light of the setting Sun upon an ocean's teal, translucent waves.

I snapped back into the present with eyes unblinking, and muscles relaxed. Aqua seemed the same. Other than that, though, the King and Riku were quite the opposite. It was probably because the fact that we'd been staring at each other so intensely, for so long, was unsettling.

"I'm goin' to check on how the autopilot is farin'."

And with that, the mouse disappeared in a sheet of red, yellow, black, and a sleek tail.

That left just us Keyblade Wielders to bask in each other's company. Riku, still sitting next to me with his careless demeanor shining, peered out the window next to the table, admiration gleaming within those aquamarine irises when stars flashed by. Apparently he wasn't going to even talk to Aqua. So I took the responsibility of being the welcoming host with a grin.

"So," I slowed to lean forward. "You're truly the last Keyblade Master in the universe?"

"That's what I've been told." she mumbled, not looking at me.

"I've never actually seen a _real _one before. Can you, like, blast through walls and fly? Or maybe destroying hordes of Heartless at once without breaking a sweat? Do Keyblade Masters fight each other? Possibly, maybe, you work together? Where do Keyblade Masters usually come from? And why aren't there any around anymore? And-"

An elbow jabbed into my ribs. I turned my head instantly to see what had caused such to happen. And, as expected, it was Riku, giving that familiar glare that said, "Shut up! You're embarrassing us!". My eyes gave one back, asking what I'd done wrong. But then I realized...Aqua was horrified. Mouth slightly opened, eyelids completely peeled back, and fear seeping from her every seam.

"Y-you don't...know? What, have you been just running around your whole life without even knowing what wielding a Keyblade means?"

"Well, yeah. Nobody's ever been kind enough to tell me. I didn't even know about that whole Master and apprentice thing until recently. I just went around the worlds and fought darkness. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

"Well," Aqua softened her expression a bit. "Yes, but there's more to it than that. You have to understand everything about the heart, and completely devote your being to protecting the Light."

Humor glinted in a sparkle within my eyes as I folded my arms behind my head. "Been there, done that..."

"And yet you seem so casual about it." Aqua replied with a taste of hostility.

"I kind of had to be. No one even asked me if I wanted this job. It just got dumped on my lap."

"But you still defended the worlds."

I chuckled, "Was I supposed to just let everything get eaten up by darkness when I had the power to stop it?"

The blue haired girl started to open her mouth, but clamped it firmly shut after; she couldn't argue with that. But then the words must have returned.

"Don't take this the wrong way, or anything,"

I knew instantly that I was going to be insulted. You know, whenever anyone mentions, "No offense.", you usually take offense. So I prepared for some gibberish about how a "kid" like me shouldn't be left with the fate of the worlds on his shoulders.

"But it's very similar to a bad example, having an... inexperienced child like yourself up-keeping the name of the Keyblade Masters."

Fury sparked through my veins. Why did she think was her place to say that? And who cares if I didn't learn the "right" way of using the Keyblade? What are you going to do about it? Besides, it was their fault for being destroyed by some geezer. Otherwise, I probably would've been trained. Though I would've wished to say those words out loud, I didn't dare just in case I would have angered her. I soon found out that I wouldn't have to.

"I don't know where in hell you get off saying things like that," Riku jumped up, thrusting the table a little ways forwards from the force. "But I think you've got the wrong impression, _girl_."

I didn't understand what had made him so angry; the way he pronounced that last part was injected with so much venom, that I swore it could've killed a thousand people with one droplet. Sure, I was irritated, too, but that was amazing. Aqua seemed not to be phased by this, though, lazily letting herself drop into la-la land.

"Riku, you don't have to defen-"

"Shut your mouth." he glared at me, uncontrollable rage storming within his eyes. This sent horror to my heart, so I obeyed and kept quiet.

"As I was saying, you have no right to accuse Sora of being inadequate as a wielder. He's done more good duties than you can even dream of, so I suggest you hold your tongue and thank him. He didn't have to go into the Dark Realm and save your sorry little blue-haired ass. So stop being ungrateful and suck up."

Aqua was still silent.

"Riku-"

"Besides, if it's such a crime for him not knowing what the Keyblade was all about, then maybe you and your stupid friends shouldn't have been beaten by some crazy old bastard and taught him!" his fist pounded into the wooden surface of the table. This finally got her attention, especially the part about her companions. I half expected her to drop her eyes to ground again, with tears welling up. But instead, Aqua rose and faced the younger teen and threw deep hatred at him. Riku stood his ground, not letting that stop him. Sparks flew between the two like a crimson fireworks display.

"_Don't you __ever__ talk about Terra and Ven that way __again__." _she hissed with teeth gritted and eyes squinted. This wicked retort stabbed through the thick armor that Riku donned, which is usually near impossible. His mouth frowned, and he finally sat down with a head hung in defeat.

Aqua glanced at both of us, shooting poison at my companion, and then looked up when the King re-entered our tension filled atmosphere. He appeared to sense that some battle had been fought here, for his words of greeting were cut short. Instead of finishing, his Majesty just scurried out of the room again.

An idea prickled in my brain: maybe we should leave, too, just in case they start fighting again. I grasped Riku's left forearm and tugged. "Come on, we should go see if the King needs any help commandeering the controls."

"But-" he started to fight against my pull, but stopped after I shot a look of urgency.

We left Aqua to bask in her own thoughts and escaped the kitchen.

* * *

"What were you thinking, going after her like that!" I screamed at him, knowing that no one would hear us in the dark quiet of the engine room. He did not answer. So, I turned around and walked through the area, discomforted by the confines of the metal walls. Many pipes intertwined above like a spiderweb, connecting wall to wall. That was about it, except for the minuscule pane of glass looking over an ocean of twinkling stars on the right side.

_"That was a pretty stupid move on Riku's part. I mean, sure, what she said was really harsh, but it didn't mean he had to go and swear and diss on her like that."_

_I'm not so mad about the swearing. The fact that she's the last Keyblade Master in the universe is what scares me._

_"It's not like Riku would kill her," _Roxas chuckled.

"No, not that. Call me selfish, but she's the only one who could teach us all about this stuff, and he went and got on her bad side! I wouldn't be surprised if she comes in our rooms tonight and slits our throats."

I didn't realize that I'd said it out loud until I turned around and recognized a face of shock surrounded by silver.

"Riku, I didn't mean for that to come out-"

He sighed. "It's all right, Sora. I understand. It's just that...she went and jumped on you like that right after we'd risked our lives to save her, and it made me so...well, let's just say I didn't want to let her get away with it."

"What she said was the truth, though." I admitted.

"Not really."

"Yeah, she kinda did tell the truth."

"No."

"Maybe?"

My best friend fell silent, not wanting to continue the pointless argument. He clutched his forehead, bent over, and sulked at the floor. Guilt flickered within, consuming my entire torso. It led me across a trail, that started where I was to behind the young man. With a grin lifting my cheeks, I slapped his back and told him to stop being down in the dumps. I received a punch in the thigh in return.

"You sure know how to cheer someone up, kid."

Ignoring the 'kid' part, I grinned even wider, and questioned mischievously, "What does that mean?"

Riku chuckled. "Keep at it, or you'll fall to darkness."

"Okay?"

"Yep."

"..."

"We should probably go now."

I nodded my answer. He stood up again and we headed for the door, side by side.

* * *

"What happened to you two? I was wonderin' when you'd appear again."

The small mouse king sat on his chair, in the middle of the other two control panel seats, head peeking around the leather with a raised eyebrow. Riku just slouched in one of the recliners next to the fridge of the cockpit.

Walking towards King Mickey, I responded. "Oh, we were just having a private conversation. Nothing more than that."

There were numerous Gummi Blocks floating the dead air of space outside the Gaia. Cerulean, gold, vermillion, jade, violet, and even brown. This rainbow passed by our ship, but not before my dark blue eyes could admire their weird shapes. It was kind of like watching the clouds and trying to see what they resembled; some looked like wise owls, some looked like strong eagles. A few resembled the sleek otter,or a seal, and I even saw one once that looked like a slithering, long, winding dragon. Kind of like the burn scar on my right arm. That's right! I had forgotten completely about it until now. All of my other scars, including the three claw marks on my back, had faded and were only crusty scabs. Well, except for the one running from my forehead to the bottom of my chin.

I randomly wondered then, with a droopy expression, if my food had been cleared. Call me a stereotypical teenage boy, but the only thing that sounded great at the time was to dive in a plate of calories. Almost as if I had been possessed, I instantly found myself digging in the fridge for something to inhale for a snack.

_Cheese slices? Crackers? Nah, doesn't sound too good right now. Cupcakes? Too sugary for me right now. I wonder..._

And that was when I found the container of lunch meat tucked neatly underneath a clutter of other stuff.

"That's meant for our lunch sandwiches, Sora." the King squeaked with concern, watching as I lifted a thin slice of turkey into the air, over my mouth, and dropped the meat into my gullet.

"Sorry, I'm 'ungry 'cause I didn' eat dinn'." I garbled through food.

There she was again. Lurking over in the corner closest to the King's right. Like a shadow left behind by some other, Aqua just stood perfectly still, staring, questioning my presence with a look that could stop a murderer in his deathly tracks. It seemed as if there was a hint of joy in her eyes, like watching me eat was funny, or something. So, being a kind gentleman, I held out the plastic box covered with labels.

"Want some meat?"

She busted out in a rain of laughter. I didn't understand why, though, but at the time it made me chuckle too. Then Riku joined. And soon King Mickey handed us another instrument to our concert of jubilation. All past comments and tension and prejudices were lost in our elevated hearts.

Don't ask me why, but I felt that soon we were all going to get along great. Though, Riku and Aqua still needed some time to get used to each other after their fight in the kitchen. But that didn't matter. All that was on our minds at the time were just us four on the Gaia and setting off on a thrilling adventure together. And it would remain that way.

Until the closed door in the cockpit began to tremble, dents appearing on every inch of the metal. Everybody's expression was one of shock and fear as we all looked onwards.

It jerked. It rumbled. It shook. It even started to bend inwards from the force brutally beating it open. Finally, the space between the top of the room and the tip of the panel blew apart.

Keyblades formed in the hands of everyone on the ship as our invader was revealed. And, if I can recall correctly, the first thing I made out was lengthy, thin, platinum hair, shining in the dim light of the stars outside, and a pair of amber irises gleaming with a hatred beyond that of a human's capacity.

King Mickey squinted his dark eyes, as if recognizing the mysterious, tall, and shadowy creature. Riku glared with hostility seeping out of his every seam. Aqua held up her silver blade in a defensive stance, horror swimming about her appearance.

Me? I was a mixture of all of those things. I could only sense one name racing through my head at the time. One that was all too familiar. One that made my stomach churn with fear. One that could stop the heartbeat of even the bravest warrior.

It was...

His name was...

_Xehanort._

–_-_

_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_

_Oh my God, I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I last updated! Truth be told, I had lost my muse and/or my inspiration. Going back to school at the end of Summer always is a bummer. But I made my way through it all. And here is the fifth chapter. I know it might fluctuate from humorous to serious quite fast, but I feel that it's all right. As always, please review and leave a comment. Your critique and praise is always wanted and accepted, no matter if it says, "YOU SUCK REALLY, REALLY BAD!", or "I LIKED SORA LOTS!", or "THIS PART MADE ME SAD!", or "I WANT MORE!". Go on ahead and say it, my readers. All is appreciated. _

~CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS~

Aqua Lagrimas  
Age:18  
Eye Color: Dark Blue  
Hair Color: Dark Blue  
Astrological Star Sign: Virgo  
Birth Date: September 2nd  
Weapon: Rain Fall(Keyblade)/Eraqus's Keyblade  
Universal Symbol: Water Drop  
Key Fighting Skills: Grace and Accuracy  
Titles: None  
Home World: The Land of Departure

Personality: Faithful and intelligent, Aqua Lagrimas is a young woman of eighteen who is the last surviving true Keyblade Master in the universe. Originally, she was a student of the infamous Master Eraqus, but surpassed the Master Qualification Exam and became one herself. Ten years ago, she was sent out into the worlds to find Master Xehanort and destroy the Unversed, but this quest cost her very much. Her friend Ventus is in a coma-like state, and Terra's whereabouts are currently unknown. Master Eraqus had been slain by Master Xehanort, and she'd been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for thirteen years. But one day as she sat on the shores of the Dark Meridian, a boy named Sora found her and offered her a way out and a chance to save her friends. Now, Aqua travels alongside him and his best friend, Riku, as they continue the search for Ventus and Terra, and to finally put an end to Xehanort's dark reign. She is very level headed and owns more common sense than most people, and is very caring and kind. Aqua often worries about Terra and Ven, and to some extent Sora. Because Sora is so aloof and nonchalant, the young woman fears that the boy is going to one day pay for having that gullible heart. And, she even lets Sora know this. But her worries are silenced with each and every moment she's around him. In fact, Aqua senses something strange about the boy that is quite different than the rest of the Keybearers she's met: a radiant Light that never seems to die, no matter what. Why is Sora's heart so much stronger than everyone else's?


End file.
